Taiwan’s CPC mulls restarting No 1 aromatics line in April

13 February 2009 02:41  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Taiwan’s refiner and integrated petrochemical maker CPC Corp would consider restarting its idled No 1 aromatics line at Kaohsiung in April if margins for its products recover, a company source said on Friday.

The company previously said it planned to keep the unit idle for the rest of the year.

“We shut the line because we don’t want to import mixed xylenes, then sell paraxylene at a loss, and also produce the aromatics, and sell benzene at a loss,” said the source.

“Now paraxylene is [enjoying] good [margins], and if the margins for benzene come back, then we can consider restarting the [unit] in the beginning of the second quarter,” the source added.

State-owned CPC had shut down this unit that produces 150,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene (PX) late last year.

This line and the company’s 250,000 tonne/year No 2 facility were scheduled for a turnaround together for 30-40 days between the end of this month and March, another company source had said earlier.

After the scheduled turnaround, the No1 line would still remain idle until the end of March.

The company’s 260,000 tonne/year No 3 line would operate normally during this period.

CPC also produces a total of 362,000 tonnes/year of benzene at its three aromatics facilities in Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan.

For more on PX and benzene visit ICIS chemical intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

 

By: Salmon Aidan Lee
+65 6780 4359

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