MAKING AROMATICS IN SINGAPORE: Global consortium is building one of the world’s largest p-XYLENE PLANTS in the city-state

AN UNLIKELY COLLECTION of international companies has started to build one of the world’s largest p -xylene plants in Singapore, a place where there is little demand for the material. The list of promoters backing the project, Jurong Aromatics, includes a Chinese polyester producer, a South Korean oil refiner, a Swiss commodities trader, and the Singaporean government. Construction of the $2.4 billion project got under way last month, roughly two years behind schedule because of financing difficulties. It is led by a U.S. citizen who was born in Iran, educated in England, and resides in Canada. But Mehdi Adib, Jurong Aromatics’ chief executive officer, describes his patchwork venture as an extraordinarily solid one. “Our entire production is sold for the next seven years, with the buyers having the option to renew for seven years after that,” he says. More important, he points out, the companies that have invested in Jurong Aromatics are essentially the same ...