BP Grangemouth KG cracker now due back up next week

13 July 2000 15:27  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--BP Amoco has begun pre-commissioning work on its KG cracker at Grangemouth, Scotland but the approximately 450 000 tonne/year capacity unit is not expected to be restarted until Monday (17 July) at the earliest.

Recommissioning had been pencilled in for between 13 and 15 July after a lengthy maintenance outage, compounded by delays caused by the continuing detailed safety audit at Grangemouth. The audit followed a series of technical problems unconnected with the KG cracker.

A spokesman for BP Amoco said Thursday that the KG recommissioning schedule had slipped very slightly but confirmed that Grangemouth's two polyethylene (PE) units and its butadiene plant were in almost full operation and the ethanol plant was also being recommissioned. BP Amoco has been taking ethylene feedstock by pipeline from its Wilton, Teesside complex in advance of the restart of its two Grangemouth crackers.

The smaller (300 000-320 000 tonne/year) G4 cracker is scheduled to be restarted about a week after the KG cracker comes back online.

In deference to the sensitivities of the local population, BP Amoco is not planning to bring either cracker back onstream over a weekend.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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