PolyMirae, a LyondellBasell joint venture, to expand its polypropylene capacity by 400,000 tons/year in South Korea

HOUSTON and HONG KONG, June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PolyMirae Company Ltd. announced today that it would establish a joint venture with SK Advanced in South Korea. The joint venture intends to build a new 400,000 ton/year polypropylene plant to serve customers in Asia. The plant will be located in the southeastern port city of Ulsan and is dependent on regulatory filings and permitting reviews.

PolyMirae is a joint venture 50 percent owned by LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB), one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, and 50 percent owned by Daelim, a construction and petrochemical company in South Korea.

Construction on the project will begin in January 2019 and operations at the plant will begin in the first half of 2021.

"Through direct investment or through a joint venture such as PolyMirae, we continue to build production capacity to serve rapidly growing end markets in Asia," said James Seward, Vice President of Joint Ventures and International Marketing at LyondellBasell. "With the addition of this joint venture's capacity, PolyMirae will ensure that automotive manufacturers in South Korea and throughout Asia will continue to be able to locally source the polypropylene they need to advance the next generation of fuel efficient vehicles, and that LyondellBasell will gain access to additional export volumes to ensure our global production footprint will continue to grow alongside our customer base."

The new polypropylene plant will be one of the largest of its kind in Asia and will utilize LyondellBasell's industry-leading Spheripol technology. Polypropylene manufactured at the joint venture will be sold to customers in South Korea and exported throughout Asia for use in automotive components, injection molding, blow molding and packaging film. Some of the polypropylene will also be sold to compounding companies in South Korea and the broader region.

PolyMirae is a 50 / 50 joint venture between LyondellBasell and Daelim. The new company will be a joint venture between PolyMirae and SK Advanced.

About PolyMirae
PolyMirae is a joint venture between Daelim and LyondellBasell Industries, both of which are well respected companies worldwide, and is a leading polypropylene production company in Korea. With Daelim's outstanding accumulated on-site operational experience and LyondellBasell's core technologies and worldwide sales network, PolyMirae was founded on September 1st 2000 in order to produce and supply the best polypropylene in Asia.

About Daelim (50% partner in PolyMirae)
Daelim Industrial is a construction and petrochemical company that is a part of the Daelim Group hailing from South Korea. As the first Korean company to build petrochemical plants in the Middle East, Daelim continues to expand globally. Daelim builds petrochemical, refinery and power plants in more than 36 countries. With headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Daelim completed more than 600 engineering and construction projects around the world, as well as operates manufacturing facilities in South Korea. Founded in 1939, Daelim has approximately 5,300 employees worldwide. Revenues for 2014 were $8 billion. For more information, visit Daelim.co.kr/Daelimchem.co.kr.

About LyondellBasell (50% partner in PolyMirae)
LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB) is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,400 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2018, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies." More information about LyondellBasell can be found at www.LyondellBasell.com. 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements
The statements in this communication relating to matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions of management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially based on factors including, but not limited to, the business cyclicality of the chemical, polymers and refining industries; the availability, cost and price volatility of raw materials and utilities, particularly the cost of oil, natural gas, and associated natural gas liquids; competitive product and pricing pressures; labor conditions; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; operating interruptions (including leaks, explosions, fires, weather-related incidents, mechanical failure, unscheduled downtime, supplier disruptions, labor shortages, strikes, work stoppages or other labor difficulties, transportation interruptions, spills and releases and other environmental risks); the supply/demand balances for our and our joint ventures' products, and the related effects of industry production capacities and operating rates; our ability to successfully execute projects; legal and environmental proceedings; tax rulings, consequences or proceedings; potential governmental regulatory actions; and risks and uncertainties posed by international operations, including foreign currency fluctuations. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, which can be found at www.LyondellBasell.com on the Investor Relations page and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov.

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SOURCE LyondellBasell