Cepsa plans aromatics restart at Huelva facility

14 March 2008 14:40  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Cepsa (Compania Espanola de Petroleos SA) expects a return to production of aromatics at its site in Huelva, Spain, this weekend, a source close to the company said on Friday.

 

The primary units were in the initial stages of a return to production after an outage that began on 28 February, the source said, adding that normal production was expected to be resumed by Monday.

 

According to ICIS plants and projects, Cepsa produces 400,000 tonnes/year of benzene and 180,000 tonnes/year of cyclohexane at the Huelva facility.

 

The outage had been part of planned maintenance to replace a reformer catalyst, a company source had said at the time.

 

Meanwhile, benzene values have firmed throughout February on the back of a perceived shortfall of supply into the second quarter of 2008, with Cepsa’s turnaround cited alongside reported future turnarounds at benzene units owned by ConocoPhillips, Dow and ExxonMobil as tightening factors in coming months.

 

Little impact had been noted from the Cepsa turnaround, however, and market participants said that supply/demand fundamentals were now balanced, with benzene trading within a $1,170-1,180/tonne (€749-755/tonne) CIF (cost, insurance and freight) ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp) range for March loading material.

 

($1 = €0.64)

By: Peter Salisbury
+44 20 8652 3214

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