Fire delays Japan Energy's Kashima aroms restart

21 April 2008 08:27  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--A fire that broke out at Japan Energy’s aromatics plant in Kashima over the weekend has delayed the producer’s plans to restart the facility this week, a company official said on Monday.

The fire had broken out at its 420,000 tonne/year paraxylene (PX) unit on Sunday evening and was put out on the same day. There were no injuries, he said.

“As of now, the facilities from the condensate splitter to the PX units are all shut for safety checks,” said the official, who declined to comment on the cause of the fire and when the plant would resume operations.

The aromatics plant, which is also known as Kashima Aromatics, is a joint venture between the producer and Mitsubishi Corp. It also produces 190,000 tonnes/year of benzene from its 60,000 bbl/day condensate splitter.

The plant was initially slated to resume operations after a one-week unplanned shutdown in early April due to technical problems.

For more on PX, please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database.

By: Peh Soo Hwee
+65 6780 4359

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