S Korea’s LG Petchem trims butane feed at cracker

09 August 2007 10:28  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--LG Petrochemical, the second biggest South Korean olefins producer, has trimmed its butane feedstock at its cracker this month, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

"We have lowered our butane feedstock usage from 15% to 7% this month as we are currently experiencing too much gas in the compressor, the source said.

"And there is very limited amount of gas which we can use right now."

Naphtha feedstock accounted for the remaining portion of LG Petrochemical’s cracker feedstock, the source said.

A recent decline in Asia’s open spec naphtha prices has partly stimulated greater interest to reduce non-naphtha alternative feedstock.

Open spec naphtha price in Asia has skidded to $657-658/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Japan, off its recent peak of $741/tonne CFR Japan in May.

The South Korean producer operates a 900,000 tonne/year cracker in Yeocheon and it was considering expanding its cracker’s capacity by 10-15% during its next turnaround in 2010, a company spokesman said in July.

By: Nurul Darni
65 6789 4359

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