Austrian energy group OMV plans to expand the capacity of its 450,000 mt/year ethylene capacity cracker at Berghausen in Germany by 33%, a company source said Monday on the sidelines of the 52nd annual EPCA conference in Vienna.
The plan involves the expansion of the refinery's nameplate ethylene capacity from current levels to approximately 600,000 mt/year. "We plan to add an additional 150,000 mt/year," the source said.
In March, the company, which has the Austrian state and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala as its largest shareholders, announced it was budgeting Eur10 billion (about $11.5 billion) for acquisitions up to 2025 to increase its oil and gas output by 70%.
According to the source, that budget will be separated evenly across OMV's upstream and downstream business, "Eur5 billion will go to the downstream and Eur5 billion will go to the upstream."
The ethylene cracker in Berghausen uses naphtha as feedstock.