Sep 5 2005
By starting up a symbolic chlorine cell, Norwegian Trade and Industry minister Børge Brende officially opened the new chlorine plant at Hydro Polymers petrochemicals site at Rafnes near Porsgrunn on Thursday last week.
“With this investment, Hydro Polymers has firmly placed itself in the premier league of its industry. This is a great day for Grenland, Norway’s principal industrial cluster, and shows that it is possible to invest in Norway. This investment, together with Hydro’s developments elsewhere in Norway, are important for Norwegian industry and society as a whole,” said Brende.
Hydro's President and CEO Eivind Reiten praised the project for achieving completion two months ahead of schedule and below budget.
Total investments in the new chlorine-alkali plant amount to nearly a billion NOK. Now the plan is to upgrade the existing chlorine plant by next year, an investment amounting to 700 million NOK.
The chlorine-alkali plant at Rafnes is among the largest investments made in Norway in recent years, and Hydro is behind several of those too, said Reiten.
Hydro has invested a total of 28 billion NOK in new projects in mainland Norway during the last seven years.
In recent years Hydro Polymers has invested a total of 2,5 billion NOK, including investments in facilities in Qatar.
Expansion of chlorine production at Rafnes makes Hydro Polymers a major and reliable supplier in the petrochemicals market. Hydro Polymers is now integrated in the whole value chain from raw material to finished PVC.
http://www.hydro.com