AlphaPet Inc, a new subsidiary of Indorama Polymers, Thailand (IRP), announces that it has selected Decatur, Alabama as the site of its new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant. The plant will have a capacity of 432,000 tons of PET per year, making it North America's largest PET plant when completed. The unit will be located adjacent to and will receive its PTA from BP's integrated Decatur paraxylene/PTA facility on the Tennessee River.
"This project is attractive to us for a number of reasons," said Aloke Lohia, CEO of Indorama Polymers PCL. "The State of Alabama and Morgan County offer great location and infrastructure, both of which help us meet our North American customers' needs."
This location helped us lower the total capitalization of AlphaPet to an important internal benchmark allowing us to move forward with confidence in our competitiveness and sustainability. AlphaPet is very timely, as we see a looming PET shortage in 2009, as each region in the world heads towards self-sufficiency.
Moreover, given BP's formidable technological and integrated position, we are delighted to have them as our supplier as we expect PTA utilizations to tighten in the future."
"Indorama believes in being at the forefront of the PET industry," said DK Agarwal, COO of IRP. "We today operate Europe's largest PET plant and will soon do the same in North America. In addition, we will eliminate the SSP process altogether by installing the latest state-of-the-art technology commercialized by Uhde Inventa Fischer. Indorama believes in delivering value to its stakeholders and the only way to do so is by efficient cost management which is reflected in the entire package that AlphaPet enjoys -- a result of the experience of Indorama and its partners -- and something that took a year to put together."
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