Shell restarting US complex in Texas after brief outage

12 May 2009 15:56  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Shell said on Tuesday it has begun the start-up process of its Deer Park chemical complex in Texas, which was shut down on Monday due to a loss of steam supply.

Emissions associated with the start-up process would last until 18 May, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

Shell operates two crackers at the site with combined ethylene capacity of 1.45m tonnes/year.

Market sources said the outage triggered an increase in US ethylene spot prices.

Spot ethylene for May was heard traded at 24.00 cents/lb ($529/tonne, €391/tonne) on Monday, up from 22.75 cents/lb on 7 May.

“It caused a little bump in the market [but] it won't last long,” a market participant said.

Shell said the interruption of steam supply also caused the shutdown of its 329,800 bbl/day refinery in Deer Park.

The refinery was also in the process of being restarted, a spokesperson said.

($1 = €0.74)

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By: William Lemos
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