Eastman plans Tennessee butac plant turnaround for 2010

26 February 2010 17:33  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Eastman Chemical has scheduled a turnaround at its Kingsport butyl acetate (butac) unit in Tennessee for later this year, the US producer said on Friday.

Eastman would not specify when the maintenance would occur. Company spokeswoman Wanda Valentine said it would not affect butac supply.

Talk of turnarounds at all three US butac plants swirled this week. Market sources said another US butac plant - Oxea's Bay City unit in Texas - had scheduled a second-quarter turnaround from 28 April through 21 May.

In addition, sources also said that Dow Chemical has scheduled a second-quarter turnaround at its US butac plant in Seadrift, Texas.

Dow officials confirmed that there would be a turnaround there in the quarter, but they did not confirm that it would be at the butac unit.

The Eastman, Dow and Oxea plants are the three major US butac plants.

A butac distributor said such turnarounds are usually announced well in advance and that producers build inventories to get through the maintenance period.

"I don't view it as something real significant," the distributor said.

The butac distributor price range for the week ended 26 February was 75-80 cents/lb ($1,654-1,764/tonne or €1,224-1,305/tonne), according to global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

($1 = €0.74)

For more on Eastman's Kingsport, Tennessee, plant visit ICIS plants and projects
For more on Eastman visit ICIS company intelligence
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By: Lane Kelley
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