Site

The former Mitsubishi Chemical ethylene plant in Kashima is now known as the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation Ibaraki Plant (三菱ケミカル株式会社 茨城事業所)^[1]:

• The Ibaraki Plant, located in the Kashima Coastal Industrial Zone, has produced ethylene and other petrochemicals since 1971

• While Mitsubishi Chemical has restructured its petrochemical business and formed new joint ventures (such as Kashima Complex LLP with ENEOS), the site and its assets-including the ethylene facility-remain under the ownership of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.

• The plant is still commonly referred to as the "Ibaraki Plant," and this is the name used in official documents and press releases.

Mitsubishi Chemical has a steam cracker in Kashima with an ethylene production capacity of 564,000 mt/year. It shut one steam cracker there in 2014 -- which has an ethylene production capacity of 375,000 mt/year -- following a sluggish petrochemical demand in the country. JXTG* currently supplies naphtha via pipeline from the 197,100 b/d Kashima refinery to Mitsubishi Chemical's steam cracker in the Kashima complex. JXTG's Kashima refinery also has a 35,100 b/d condensate splitter^[2].

*Now ENEOS

References

1. Perplexity A.I. Pro Search, 26^th Apr 2025.
2. SP Global, 7th Nov 2019, Japan's JXTG, Mitsubishi Chemical to form JV in Kashima to optimize operations.