JG Summit Petrochemicals Group (JGSPG) hosted the 20th Regional Olefins Producers Technical Committee (ROPTC) Conference on May 8-10, 2017, in Manila, Philippines. ROPTC is an association of olefins producers in Southeast Asia comprised of seven (7) companies: Chandra Asri Petrochemical (CAP) – Indonesia, IRPC Public Company (IRPC) – Thailand, Petronas Chemical Global (PCG) – Malaysia, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (PCS) – Singapore, PTT Global Chemicals (PTTCG) – Thailand, SCG Chemicals Co. Ltd. (SCG) – Thailand and JGSPG – Philippines. This is the first time for JGSPG to host this momentous event.
ROPTC Conference started in 1997. It is an annual event where member-companies gather together and share various technical information, best practices, lessons and updates in the areas of operations, plant reliability, troubleshooting and technology. This year’s conference marked a milestone in the history of ROPTC as it celebrated its 20th victorious year. During the speech of Mr Peeyush Nigam, JGSPG’s Naphtha Cracker Plant Vice President, he acknowledged that, “Since the formation of ROPTC, very fruitful exchanges have taken place pertaining to plant operational excellence, problem mitigation, profit maximization and other issues that were shared for the betterment of all involved”.
89 delegates from the 7 member companies attended as well as representatives from twelve (12) sponsor companies, namely: Axens, Dorf-Ketal, Kubota, Nalco-Ecolab, PAS Inc., Schneider Electric, Chevron-Phillips Chemical Company LP, Elliot-Ebara Singapore Pte. Ltd., Emerson, GE Power and Water, Metso and Armacell.
The 3-day conference started with the Plant Tour of the JGSPG Complex in Batangas City. The delegates were welcomed by the plant executives and engineers who avidly entertained the delegates and guided them up till the Naphtha Cracker Plant. After a round at the complex, the delegates went ahead to Malarayat Golf and Country Club for lunch. Everyone concluded the first day experiencing the delicacy of Pinoy food, the elegance of the Old Manila, grabbed some local souvenirs and enjoyed the world-class resort and leisure environment of Mount Malarayat Golf and Country Club.
The Conference proper started on the 2nd day of the event. 27 presentations were shared by members and sponsors and conference kits were distributed for easier reference. The exchange of valuable information and insights during the 5 sessions brought about collaborative support for ideas and possible solutions collectively.
Everyone came relaxed and refreshed to the welcome dinner from a whole day of technical session,wearing their favourite circle patterned outfits. Mr Paul Bowdler, Senior Vice President of the JGSPG Complex opened it saying that, “ROPTC is an avenue for young companies such as JGSPG to learn from the veterans and as a center for sharing and learning”. He further added that the 20th ROPTC Conference Theme, Operational Excellence: Driving the Path to Sustained Profitability aptly mirrors the goal of all of olefins plants and emphasized that safety is an essential requirement to attain sustained profitability.
Mr Lucas Ng, current ROPTC Chairman and PCS General Manager, on the last day, shared his closing speech – “Face to face interaction like this will certainly shorten our learning curves significantly. After all, there is no need to reinvent the wheel while we contend with keen competition within this region and beyond. This is the reason we, as ROPTC partners, have sustained for the past 20 years. It is a relatively long time.”
Apart from the learnings, JG Summit Petrochemicals Group is truly honoured to be part of this milestone. JGSPG was able to share the unique Filipino hospitality and culture to all the participants. The 21st ROPTC Conference will be hosted by Chandra Asri Petrochemical in Indonesia.
