CTCI Corp (中鼎工程) on Monday said that it aims to increase its annual revenue from US$2 billion to US$3 billion in the next three years while seeking to raise its visibility in the international market.
“We expect this year’s revenue to exceed last year’s NT$67 billion [US$2.08 billion],” CTCI chairman John Yu (余俊彥) told a news conference, without providing further details.
The nation’s leading engineering, procurement and construction solutions provider for refineries and power plants said that a few bright spots remain in the global petrochemical market, despite a persistent slump in international crude oil prices.
“We are eying a boom driven by the tremendous cost advantage of significantly cheaper US shale gas,” Yu said.
US-produced shale gas is selling at about US$300 per tonne compared with import prices of US$800 per tonne from other sources tapped by petrochemical operators in markets lacking domestic raw materials, such as Taiwan, Yu said.
Yu said that ethylene refined from light gas oil through naphtha cracking costs about US$16 per 1 million British thermal units (BTUs), compared with a cost of US$2 to US$3 per 1 million BTUs using US-produced shale gas.
The firm would replicate the effort of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, and aim to increase its operating presence in the US, Yu said, adding that CTCI plans to establish a US subsidiary to reduce labor concerns.
“Low oil prices do not mean an across-the-board slump in nations that rely heavily on oil exports,” Yu said.
The firm expects to see new opportunities as Iran continues to invest heavily in its petrochemical sector following the lifting of Western sanctions, Yu said.
After the company’s joint venture with Chicago Bridge & Iron Company was awarded a US$2.8 billion contract to build a petrochemicals and plastics complex in Oman last year, Yu said that CTCI is anticipating revenue contribution from the project to grow tremendously as it advances to later phases.
Part of the growth would come from planned ventures in Taiwan’s long-term care market for elderly people and China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative aimed at exporting the nation’s expertise in infrastructure construction by tapping into demand among developing nations.
CTCI also unveiled its new brand identity aimed at raising recognition among the company’s international clients by emphasizing reliability.
“Branding is an area that has been neglected in the company’s 37-year history,” Yu said. “A new corporate identity will help remedy the shortcoming and distinguish us from our competitors.”
“Revamping our brand image is part of the solution in transitioning from the reliance on price competition seen in most Taiwanese companies, which has proven to be unsustainable in light of the rise of Chinese rivals,” said DDG LLC managing director Mark Stocker, who oversaw the CTCI’s six-month rebranding effort.
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