Kashima delays restart of fire-hit aroms plant

24 April 2008 11:04  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Investigations are under way by the fire department at Japan’s Kashima Aromatics due to which it could set no firm dates for the plant’s restart and this delay has raised benzene spot values by $20-30, company and market sources said on Thursday.

The plant, with a capacity of 190,000 tonnes/year of benzene and 420,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene (PX), extended its shutdown this week following a fire outbreak on Sunday evening.

“The benzene unit was also affected [due to the fire] as it is closely related within the system,” the company source said.

The aromatics plant was earlier shutdown on 14 April for a week due to some technical issues, and the fire occurred while they were readying for its start-up this week, he added.

The producer’s contracted volumes to its customers had to be cut back due to the shutdown and the company had to purchase some spot cargoes of benzene to tide over the shortfall, the source said.

The impact of the delay in the restart was seen in the benzene spot market, where prices rose $20-30/tonne to $1,125-1,130/tonne FOB (free on board) Korea this week compared to last Friday’s close, according to global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

The spike in prices was due to the rally in crude and naphtha values along with the plant problems at Kashima Aromatics this week, said traders and producers.

For more on benzene visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Mahua Chakravarty
+65 6780 4359

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