Liaoyang PTA to start 26 May, on-spec in June

25 May 2007 07:16  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--PetroChina Liaoyang Petrochemical has delayed starting up its new 530,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant to Saturday, and on-spec production is expected to be achieved only in June, company officials and other sources close to the company said.

“The plant is expected to start running on 26 May, after raw materials are fed in,” a source familiar with the plant’s operations, which is located in Liaoning province, northeastern China, said on Friday.

A company official could not say when the exact startup date would be, but confirmed that the date had been delayed to later this week from April.

“From what I heard from my [engineer] colleagues, there were several technical issues yet to be fully ironed out,” said the official.

Another source familiar with the marketing of the plant’s products said that “sales would start only in June”, with on-spec production expected in the “earlier part of June”.

The startup of Liaoyang’s plant had been pushed back several times over the past one and half year.

It was last scheduled to start in late 2006, but the date was pushed back to April or May due to the harsh winter in north of China.

By: Salmon Aidan Lee
+65 6780 4359

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