Artenius Purified Terephthalic Acid Facility, Sines, Portugal

Artensa (Artenius) (Produção e Comercialização de ácido Tereftálico Purificado e Produtos Conexos, S.A.) is a Spanish subsidiary of La Seda de Barcelona S.A that intends to set up a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in Sines, Portugal.

Sines already has one of the largest industrial parks in Portugal, and the occupants include Sines Power Plant (Electricidade de Portugal), Petrogal Sines (National Petrochemical Refinery) and Repsol (Polymer Refinery).

The new plant will produce around 700,000t/yr of PTA and will be one of the largest plants of its kind in Europe. The plant is being constructed with EU grant aid since it will become a significant employer in the Coastal Alentejo region of Portugal. The facility will create 150 direct jobs and over 200 indirect jobs in both construction and services.

PTA is also known as 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, and it has the chemical formula C6H4(COOH)2.

INVESTMENT

In July 2007 it was reported that the European commission had provided €99.29m in investment aid (soft loan and corporate tax relief) for the setting up of the new PTA plant in Portugal. The final amount of the investment for the plant will come to a total of €360.5m.

The project will be financed by own resources of the company to the tune of €108.11m, by bank financing containing no state aid element €213.55m and by a soft loan containing state aid €38.82m; the total state aid will be €99.29m. Therefore, the contribution by the beneficiary exceeds 25% of the eligible costs and makes it eligible for grant aid under Article 88(3)(a) of the EC Treaty.

CONTRACTORS

In October 2007 Aker Kvaerner was awarded a £20m (€30m) contract for the engineering, procurement and construction management of the plant. The detailed engineering of the plant will be provided by Aker Kvaerner India of Mumbai, and Technoedif of Portugal as a subcontractor will be responsible for the engineering support and construction management of the new plant.

The construction of the plant began at the end of 2007 and is due for completion by the fourth quarter of 2009, with the plant set to be online in the first quarter of 2010. Full production will be achieved by 2012. The complex will consist of the production facility, raw material and finished product silos, pipe work, wastewater treatment plant, and administrative and logistics areas.

PRODUCTS

The PTA will be used for the production of polyester, PET resin for packaging, PET films, powder coating resins and synthetic fibres.