BP and Lotte have agreed a major expansion of production capacity at their joint venture Lotte BP Chemical Company Limited facility in Ulsan, South Korea. The expansion is expected to add 100,000 tonnes a year (tpa) of acetic acid capacity by May 2019 through debottlenecking, and to double the current 200,000 tpa vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) capacity with the addition of a second VAM plant by the end of 2020. The new expansion will bring total production capacity of the site to over 1 million tpa. The expected investment of $175 million will be funded by the joint venture.