Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals, and Mitsubishi Chemical integrate ethylene plants

Thread Content

On January 27, Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals, and Mitsubishi Chemicals announced that they would work together to advance the decarbonization process of two ethylene plants located in western Japan and to optimize their production capacities. Currently, the three companies have signed a preliminary agreement to establish a new joint venture in western Japan, aiming to operate the two ethylene plants in that region under one unified management. Among them, the ethylene plant of Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene located in Mizushima will be shut down, involving a production capacity of 496,000 tons per year ； And by fiscal year 2030, integrate the relevant operations into the ethylene plant of Osaka Petrochemical Industry Co., Ltd. located in Takashi. The shareholding ratio in the new joint venture will be determined based on each company’s market share. The combined capacity of the two ethylene plants is 951,000 tons per year, but this capacity will drop to 455,000 tons per year after the Mizushima cracking unit is shut down. Meanwhile, the three companies will launch ethylene decarbonization plans. The investment amount for this plan is estimated at 21.2 billion yen, including a subsidy of up to 10.4 billion yen provided by the Japanese government. The three companies will build production facilities at the Asahi Kasei Mizushima plant to produce ethylene, propylene, and other green basic chemicals using bioethanol, with commercial production set to begin in fiscal year 2034. In recent years, demand for ethylene in Japan has continued to decline, prompting Japanese chemical companies to accelerate the consolidation of their ethylene production facilities. For example, Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsui Chemicals jointly announced on December 19, 2025, that they had reached a final agreement on integrating the ethylene production operations in Chiba, Japan, which includes shutting down an ethylene plant with an annual production capacity of 370,000 tons ； Japanese ENEOS plans to shut down a 448,000 tons per year ethylene cracking unit by the fiscal year 2027 ； Maruzen Petrochemical’s Chiba ethylene plant will close in 2026, while the Keiye ethylene plant, a joint venture with Sumitomo Chemical, will be optimized.