Thai PX shuts down plant to bring on new capacity

16 May 2007 11:17  [Source: ICIS news]

BANGKOK (ICIS News)--Thai Oil plans a major shutdown of its Thai Paraxylene (TPX) plant from mid-October to December to tie in new capacity, a company spokeswoman told ICIS news on Wednesday.

 

The shutdown will coincide with the closure of the refinery's crude distillation unit, which will see its capacity boosted 50,000 barrels/day to 275,000 barrels/day, the spokesperson said. TPX, a wholly owned subsidiary, will double its total output to 900,000 tonnes/year from 450,000 tonnes/year, the spokesperson said.

 

TPX produces 348,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene and 72,000 tonnes/year of mixed xylenes. After the shutdown, it will be able to produce 489,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene; 90,000 tonnes/year of mixed xylene; 177,000 tonnes/year of benzene; and 144,000 tonnes/year of toluene.

 

Running at full capacity, TPX reported first-quarter sales revenue of baht (Bt) 9.5bn ($284m), up 1% from a year earlier as paraxylene demand increased for new purefied terephthalic acid (PTA) plants in China and Thailand. The margin between paraxylene and gasoline jumped 35% year on year in the first quarter to $547/tonne.

 

Thai Oil is Thailand's largest oil refiner with integrated petrochemical operations.

 

($1 = Bt 33)

 

By: Daniel Ten Kate
+65 6780 4359

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