Thailand’s PTT restarts new ethane cracker after brief outage

02 February 2010 08:41  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Thailand’s PTT Chemical has restarted its new 1m tonne/year ethane cracker at Mab Ta Phut after a brief shutdown last week due to technical issues, a company official said on Tuesday.

"The cracker was restarted on Saturday," the official said, adding that on-spec production for ethylene and propylene had been achieved.

Market sources had earlier said that the facility could be down for up to one week after it was taken off line on 28 January. The cracker was started up on 25 January.

Traders had reported enquiries from Thailand seeking ethylene spot molecules for prompt February arrival after the outage but these were withdrawn after the restart of the cracker, they said.

Separately, PTT has brought forward a 45-day maintenance shutdown at its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at the same site due to technical issues.

The facility, which can produce around 120,000 tonnes/year of propylene, was shut on 1 February, the official added.

For more on ethylene and propylene visit ICIS chemical intelligence
Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Peh Soo Hwee
+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