Iran's Jam delays Assaluyeh cracker by 3-6 months

17 December 2007 09:16  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Iran's Jam Petrochemical expects to delay the start-up of its 1.32m tonne/year cracker at Assaluyeh by three-to-six months to the end of the first or second quarter of 2008, sources close to the project said on Monday.

One source said the cracker was likely to go on stream by the end of March, attributing the delay to technical reasons.

However, a second person told ICIS news that the project was more likely to happen around mid-2008 due to financial constraints.

The start-up has been delayed several times with the most recent deadline being the end of 2007.

A 300,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant and a 300,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE)/linear low density PE (LLDPE) swing plant, would start up soon after the cracker, the first source said.

However, Jam’s 300,000 tonne/year HDPE plant is ready and set to start up in January ahead of the cracker, he added. 

“It will source ethylene feedstock from the Arya Sasol cracker,” said the same source.

Arya Sasol’s 1m tonne/year cracker at Assaluyeh started up in August and has achieved 100% on-spec output.

The company’s derivative plants have, however, been delayed to the first quarter of next year due to technical problems.

A 400,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, a part of the Jam complex, is also being fed by the Arya Sasol cracker, pending the start-up of the Jam cracker.

Jam is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran’s National petrochemical Co www.nipc.net.

Arya Sasol is a joint venture of NPC and South Africa’s Sasol.

By: Prema Viswanathan
+65 6780 4359

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