GS Caltex restarts S Korea refinery, downstream

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--GS Caltex, South Korea’s second largest refiner, has restarted its 650,000 bbl/day refinery located at its Yeochun complex following a power outage late last week, an industry source said on Monday

The refinery was shut last Friday morning due to a power outage which occured around 10:30 a.m. local time, a source close to the company said. Operations at the refinery were back to normal by Sunday and facilities were running normally, the industry source added. The power outage had affected other plants in the Yeochun complex, but reason for the power outage is still being determined.

GS Caltex’s Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) unit was restarted on Friday, with minimal impact on the propylene markets. The unit feeds around 200,000 tonnes/year of propylene to a downstream 180,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP)  line, which was restarted a bit later on Sunday, a source close to the company added.

Market sources said the downstream units at GS Caltex were also running normally. The company produces 1.2m tonne/year of paraxylene (PX), 770,000 tonne/year of benzene, 700,000 tonne/year of toluene and 80,000 tonne/year of mixed xylenes at Yeochun

It can also produce 100,000 tonne/year of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and 180,000 tonne/year of polypropylene (PP).

Samnam Petrochemical’s four production lines at Yeochun were also restarted, a company source, although they were only operating at around 80% of capacity. The company produces a total 1.3m tonne/year of qualified terephthalic acid (QTA) and 300,000 tonne/year of purified terephthalic acid (PTA).