Two Indonesia ammonia units shut down unplanned

23 October 2008 12:25  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--The Kaltim Pacific Ammonia (KPA) and Kaltim Parna Industry (KPI) ammonia plants in Bontang, Indonesia, shut down unexpectedly on 21 October due to electrical problems, an official said on Thursday.

The official at Mitsui, which exports the ammonia from the KPA unit, added that both plants were experiencing problems with electrical supply and were expected to be down for around a week.

The KPA plant has a 660,000 tonne/year capacity, while the KPI unit produces 525,000 tonnes/year of ammonia.

Both units were scheduled to take planned shutdowns in November.

Mitsui’s KPA plant will close in mid-November for around 20 days, which is expected to result in a loss of up to 40,000 tonnes of ammonia.

Meanwhile, the KPI unit is due to shut down in mid-November for a two-month turnaround, which will mean a loss of 90,000 tonnes of ammonia. KPI ammonia is sold through trader Mitsubishi.

The planned and unplanned shutdowns are further tightening the Asia-Pacific market, which was already suffering from the loss of Australian ammonia due to the Burrup plant outage. 

However, market sources report that industrial demand for ammonia in Asia Pacific, from caprolactam and acrylonitrile producers, was reduced due to weak downstream demand.

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By: Rebecca Clarke
+44 20 8652 3214

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