US BASF/Atofina TX cracker offline until April

18 March 2008 21:50  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US BASF/Atofina’s Port Arthur steam cracker in Texas will remain offline for at least another two weeks due to ongoing repairs, the company said on Tuesday.

The 936,000 tonne/year unit was taken off line on 12 March due to a problem with its water processing tower.

Work was underway to repair the original problem when a new issue emerged that was related to the unit’s cold box, a BASF spokesperson said.

Market participants had previously expected the complex to be restarted by the weekend.

US spot ethylene prices began the week on a skyrocketing trend, with deals for March done on Monday at 55-57 cents/lb ($1,213-1,257/tonne or €776-804/tonne), up from 53.00-53.50 cents/lb on Friday.

Ethylene for April was said to have traded at 58.25 cents/lb on Tuesday.

Market sources attributed the surge to sentiment that US ethylene is tighter than originally estimated due to planned and unplanned outages, including the one at BASF/Atofina.

Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database

For more on ethylene visit ICIS Chemical Intelligence

($1 = €0.64)

By: William Lemos
+1 713 525 2653

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