Capacity Increase Slated for Worldwide Merchant Market

    NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- ARCO Chemical Company
(NYSE: RCM) today announced that it has started engineering on a butanediol
(BDO) plant to be constructed at Rotterdam, the Netherlands.  The plant will
be situated on the Maasvlakte industrial site of Rotterdam, adjacent to the
propylene oxide/styrene monomer plant that the company is also building there.
    The company also announced that its existing BDO unit at Channelview,
Texas will be debottlenecked to 120 MM lbs./yr. in late 1997.
    The Rotterdam plant will have a capacity of 250 MM lbs./yr. of butanediol,
and is expected to start up early 2001.  The plant will be based on ARCO
Chemical's proprietary technology which uses propylene oxide as a feedstock.
The company also plans to build capacity for a range of BDO derivative
products, including MPDiol Glycol(TM) (2-methyl-1-3-propanediol), allyl
alcohol, N-methyl pyrrolidone, tetrahydrofuran and gamma butyrolactone.
According to William A. Callanan, Vice President, Performance Chemicals and
Business Development, the move is a logical step in ARCO Chemical's strategy
to grow its market position in BDO and derivatives.
    "ARCO Chemical has a unique position with respect to BDO since we are the
only PO-based producer of the product.  This PO co-product technology strength
has allowed us to become the leading U.S. merchant supplier of BDO and
derivatives and we plan to expand our position and become the largest
worldwide merchant supplier.  This new European plant is the next step towards
that goal."
    ARCO Chemical's Performance Chemicals business unit includes butanediol
and derivatives, propylene glycols, propylene glycol ethers, propylene
carbonate, tertiary-butyl hydroperoxide and other specialty chemicals.
    Butanediol, the newest in the family of PO derivatives, is a versatile
chemical used in engineering resins, elastomers, and solvents.  End use
applications of butanediol include bumpers, facia and "under the hood"
automotive components, appliances and hardware fixtures, electrical connectors
and insulators.
    ARCO Chemical is a leading worldwide manufacturer and marketer of
intermediate chemicals and specialty products used in a broad range of
consumer and industrial products.

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