MCC plans to cut op rates at crackers to 85%

28 August 2008 12:19  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corp (MCC) plans to cut the operating rates of its three crackers to 80-85% from September until the end of December on weak downstream demand, a spokesman from the leading petrochemical producer said on Thursday.

The spokesman attributed the reduction in operating rates to weakening demand for polyethylene (PE) and styrene monomer (SM).

The producer has two crackers with a combined capacity of 851,000 tonnes/year at Kashima, Ibaraki prefecture, and another at Mizushima, Okayama prefecture, producing 450,000 tonnes/year of ethylene.

All three plants were currently operating at 93% capacity, the spokesman said.

MCC would decide on ramping up operating rates at the crackers by the end of the year depending on ethylene demand, he added.

The No 2 cracker at Kashima, which was restarted on 22 August after a scheduled maintenance shutdown, was not operating at full rates as two of its furnaces were still under repairs after the fire in December.

The company expected to restart furnace No 7 by the end of this year after getting approval from the authorities, the spokesman said.

"As for furnace No 8, it looks impossible to be restarted within this year unless a miracle happens," he added.

Other major Japanese chemical producers including Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical and Sanyo Petrochemical had also reduced operating rates at their crackers in the past few months.

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By: Tomomi Yokomura
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