The Board of Directors of TPC Group Inc. (Houston; www.tpcgrp.com) has approved a plan to expand the company’s Crude C4 processing capacity. There was unanimous support for the company’s 2018 capital program as part of the long-range plan to support its continued focus on improving infrastructure, further enhancing reliability, and selectively implementing low-cost debottlenecks.
“With the significant expansions in the U.S. olefins industry, we want to assure our current and future suppliers of Crude C4’s that TPC will be a long-term, reliable and cost-effective partner to handle their growing C4 volumes,” said John Medico, commercial director for the C4 processing business. “With the substantial growth in North American tire production, we will also provide a growing, cost competitive, domestic source of butadiene for our synthetic rubber customers as well as producers of other butadiene-based derivatives that choose to build or expand capacity in North America.”
As part of the Company’s long-range plan, TPC Group is focused on getting the most out of existing assets and strengthening current capabilities to serve the industry, including processing the increasing C4 supply from both new and expanded ethylene crackers.
“We expect to grow our C4 volumes at more than 8 percent per year through 2022,” said Ed Dineen, TPC Group Chairman, President and CEO. “With the support of our board and owners, we will have adequate capacity to support this growth through 2022 and beyond.”