Petrokemya delays PE turnaround to November

13 June 2007 13:34  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Petrokemya has pushed back the two-week turnaround of its polyethylene (PE) facilities at Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, from September to November, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.

 

Maintenance of the facilities, consisting of a high density PE (HDPE) line and a linear low density PE (LLDPE) plant of 450,000 tonne/year capacity each, were postponed mainly to meet the strong demand in Europe and Africa, the source said.

 

"Middle East HDPE used to compete with European product in North Africa, but not recently because most of the European materials were absorbed by the strong domestic demand. The main demand driver now is Europe," he said.

 

Middle East LLDPE has also been diverted away from Asian markets to Europe where netbacks are higher, another source close to the company said.

 

Petrokemya is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the region’s largest petrochemicals producer.

 

Other key LLDPE and HDPE producers in the Middle East include Equate, Borouge and Qatar Chemical Company.

By: Chow Bee Lin
+65 6780 4359

< previous article(VIDEO - ICIS news Europe Lunchtime Bulletin 3 November 2009)

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly