Corrected: YNCC to be largest Korea olefins exporter

19 June 2006 08:45  [Source: ICIS news]

Correction: In the ICIS news story headlined "YNCC to become S Korea's largest olefins exporter" dated 14 June, 2006, please read in the second paragraph that the YNCC's No 1 cracker turnaround will start 11 October, instead of 11 November. Also, please read in the fifth paragraph that the cracker will resume operations on 29 November, instead of 29 December. A corrected story follows.

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--South Korea’s largest naphtha cracker operator, Yeochun NCC (YNCC), is set to become the country's largest olefins exporter once the expansion of its No 1 cracker in Yeochun is completed by year end, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.

It plans to shut its 500,000 tonnes/year No 1 cracker for a 50-day expansion and turnaround starting 11 October. After the turnaround, ethylene capacity will be expanded by 350,000 tonnes/year, or around 70%, to 850,000 tonnes/year.

This will make it one of South Korea’s largest crackers, on par with the recently expanded LG Petrochemical cracker in Yeochun.

Propylene capacity at YNCC’s No 1 cracker will increase by an estimated 200,000 tonnes/year to around 450,000 tonnes/year, with an increase in the propylene yield ratio. 

With no new downstream facilities in the near future, the new ethylene and propylene production will primarily be exported once the cracker resumes operations on 29 November.

Olefin traders have been and will be lining up to negotiate term supply from YNCC to feed growing demand for olefins in Asia, especially in China.

YNCC’s upgraded ethylene export capability of 350,000 tonnes/year is three times larger than China’s ethylene import volume of 111,000 tonnes in 2005.

However, no significant supply imbalance is expected in northeast Asia as Chinese imports have significant growth potential, which had been curbed in recent years by the lack of supply and shipping space.

Earlier in May, YNCC had also shut its 550,000 tonnes/year No 2 cracker for a 10-day maintenance shutdown.

By: Steve Tan
+65 6780 4359

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