Latin America petchems face volatile oil, feedstock shortages

07 June 2010 23:43  [Source: ICIS news]

BUENOS AIRES (ICIS news)--Volatile crude oil prices, feedstock shortages and a strengthening dollar would continue to plague petrochemical producers in Latin America, a consultant said on Monday.

Rina Quijada, chief executive of the consultancy Intellichem, gave an overview of the Latin American petrochemicals industry during the 12th Latin American Logistics Meeting in Buenos Aires.

Overall, Latin America would remain a net importer of raw materials despite increasing petrochemical plant capacity, Quijada said.

Among the new plants coming on line, Quijada noted Ethylene XXI, the complex being built by Braskem and Idesa in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz in Mexico. The complex, schedule to start in 2015, would produce 1m tonnes/year of ethylene and 1/m tonnes/year of polyethylene.

Meanwhile Petroquimica Suape planned to start up a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Brazil, Quijada said.

Argentina's petrochemical industry will continue to struggle with natural gas shortages, Quijada said.

Chile's petrochemical industry was still struggling with the aftermath of a major earthquake, which had disrupted production, she said.

Chile’s sole polypropylene (PP) producer, Petroquim, expected to restart homopolymer production in mid June, with material ready to sell by the end of that month.

The Latin American Logistics Meeting was organised by the Petrochemical and Chemical Latin American Association, (APLA).

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By: Cristina Kroll
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