On the 21st, after departing Ulsan Tongdosa Station and driving for a little over 30 minutes, the main gate of the S-oil Onsan plant at the Onsan National Industrial Complex in Onsan-eup, Ulju County, Ulsan, came into view. From there, another 10-minute drive leads to an observation deck on a hill overlooking the Shahin Project construction site.
The Shahin Project is the largest project in Korea's petrochemical history, with S-oil investing 9.258 trillion won. On a site of about 880,000 square meters (about 266,700 pyeong), equivalent to 123 soccer fields, TC2C (Thermal Crude-To-Chemicals), a steam cracker, a polymer plant, and storage facilities will be built.
S-oil announced the Shahin Project plan in June 2018. Less than five years later, construction began in Jan. 2023, and as of the 15th, 85.2% of the overall engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) process was complete. The construction progress rate is 73%.
The Shahin Project is scheduled for construction completion in June next year. It will be 42 months since groundbreaking. Lee Hyun-young, site manager for the Shahin Project construction at Hyundai E&C, said, "Excluding the design period, the actual construction is 30 months, with eight months left until completion," and added, "We are accelerating to finish the work as planned." An S-oil official said, "After completion, the Shahin Project will undergo test runs to check operating stability, including Production yield and quality of the products, and is scheduled to begin commercial operation in the second half of next year."
◇ TC2C adopting Aramco's original technology set for world's first commercial operation
The Shahin Project construction site is divided into Packages 1, 2, and 3 according to production processes and facilities. On a site of about 480,000 square meters adjacent to the existing S-oil Onsan complex are Package 1 and Package 3. Package 1 houses TC2C and the steam cracker, and Package 3 has storage tanks under construction. Package 2 is in Dangwol, Ulju County, about 5 kilometers southeast of this location. Package 2 covers about 400,000 square meters and will house the polymer plant.
TC2C is a process that can maximize production of petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha when the same amount of crude oil is fed, compared with existing crude refining facilities. It incorporates the original technology of Saudi Aramco, S-oil's parent company, and is set to become the world's first to operate commercially through the Shahin Project. It is known to produce 3 to 4 times more petrochemical materials and supplies than existing crude refining facilities.
A steam cracker is a facility that uses heat of 850℃ to crack naphtha, LPG, and off-gases into petrochemical products such as ethylene and propylene. S-oil plans to feed not only TC2C output but also petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha and LPG produced at existing crude refining facilities into the steam cracker to produce ethylene.
The Shahin Project's steam cracker can produce 1.8 million tons (t) of ethylene annually. It is the world's largest single facility. Of the 10 cracking heaters, the core units of the steam cracker, four have completed module installation. The remaining six will complete module installation within the year. The steam cracker stands 68 meters tall.
Twenty-one storage tanks are slated for installation. The storage tanks will hold petrochemical products such as ethylene and propylene produced in Package 1. They will then move via pipelines to Package 2, which produces polymers. The polymer plant will use ethylene as a feedstock to produce polyethylene and polypropylene.
◇ Finalizing contracts with Ulsan and Onsan downstream firms… "Pipeline work also proceeding in parallel"
Once the Shahin Project goes into full operation, it will produce base olefins such as 1.8 million t of ethylene, 770,000 t of propylene, 200,000 t of butadiene, and 280,000 t of benzene. Most of the ethylene will be fed as a raw material to the polymer plant for polyethylene production, which is used to make plastic and various synthetic materials.
S-oil plans to supply ethylene, propylene, butadiene, and other products remaining after internal consumption at the Shahin Project via pipelines to domestic petrochemical downstream companies (firms that use ethylene, propylene, etc. to produce various petrochemical products) in the Ulsan petrochemical complex. To that end, S-oil has entered the final stage of concluding long-term supply agreements for petrochemical feedstocks with corporations located in the Ulsan and Onsan national industrial complexes.
An S-oil official said, "Alongside the Shahin Project, we are building infrastructure such as a new pipeline network," and added, "Stable pipeline supply of petrochemical feedstocks produced by the Shahin Project will enable downstream manufacturers to procure raw materials and cut logistics costs."
S-oil is also working to secure overseas customers. It is pushing to expand exports of petrochemical feedstocks to the Japanese market and is conducting export marketing using Aramco's global network.
An S-oil official said, "By expanding into overseas markets, we expect Korea to establish itself as a key hub in the global petrochemical supply chain," and added, "We will work with the government and related industries to successfully complete the Shahin Project and make it a turning point for a new leap forward in the domestic petrochemical industry."