Exxon-Mobil Chemical, a unit of the world’s largest listed oil company Exxon Mobil, is at an “advanced stage” of reviewing plans to build a second, major ethylene complex on Singapore’s Jurong island, but no construction work has begun yet, a company spokeswoman said.

A Japanese report said construction work on the company’s second Singapore ethylene complex was already underway.
“We are at an advanced stage of the feasibility study and it’s progressing well,” the company spokeswoman said, but she added that Exxon hasn’t started any construction work related to the second ethylene plant.
Exxon Mobil’s existing ethylene complex on Jurong Island, which started operations in 2001, is one of the largest in Asia with a capacity of 800,000 metric tons a year. Ethylene, derived from petroleum, is used mostly to make plastics and petrochemical fibers.
The existing unit is part of a $2 billion olefins complex.
According to a report by Japan Chemical Week, Singapore’s industrial infrastructure developer JTC Corp has started to relocate a road next to Exxon’s existing ethylene plant.
JTC is the Singapore government agency tasked with developing key industrial facilities and industrial space in support of the city-state’s economic development.
Once the road is moved, the report added, the empty land will likely house Exxon Mobil’s second ethylene plant, which is expected to come on-stream in 2010.
Last year, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told an election rally that Exxon Mobil was in an “advanced study stage” for this project.