Kuwait’s PIC resumes full PP production

25 September 2007 08:34  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC) has resumed full production at its 120,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant in Shuaiba, following a 10-day outage due to technical problems, a source close to the company said on Tuesday.

 

Production had gradually been ramped up to 100% after the plant restarted on 21 September, the source said.

 

“Around 3,000 tonnes of PP was lost during the unplanned shutdown,” a second source said.

 

The outage has slightly tightened PP supply in the Middle East, coming as it did within weeks of a 25-day shutdown at Saudi Polyolefins Co’s 450,000 tonne/year plant, traders said. 

 

Demand for PP was stable in the region, however, the first source said.

 

PIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC), exports PP mainly to countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the east Mediterranean and to Asia.

 

Prices of raffia/injection grade PP and film grade PP in the GCC region, including Saudi Arabia, remained stable at $1,400-1,440/tonne CFR (cost and freight) GCC and $1,420-1,450/tonne CFR GCC  respectively, according to global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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