UpdateStorm shuts some petchem plants in S Korea's Daesan

23 July 2010 04:41  [Source: ICIS news]

(adds PX market reaction, with recasts throughout)

By Bohan Loh

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--A thunderstorm that struck Daesan, South Korea caused power outages that shut a number of petrochemical facilities at the industrial estate on Friday, market sources said.

Samsung Total’s 850,000 tonne/year naphtha cracker, along with its downstream plants at the site, was down, they said. These units included a 120,000 tonne/year mono ethylene glycol (MEG) and a 650,000 tonne/year paraxylene (PX) unit.

The 700,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit of Samsung Petrochemical in Daesan was also affected, as well as the 360,000 tonne/year PX unit of HC Petrochem, market sources said.

The plant shutdowns could not be officially confirmed with the companies at the moment.

Upon news of the thunderstorm-induced plant shutdowns in Daesan, the Asian PX market reacted, with bids rising $10-15/tonne (€7.8-11.7/tonne) on Friday morning, market sources said.

Bids were at $875/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Taiwan and/or CMP (China Main Port), with offers withheld as the market was anticipating further price increases, players said.

Meanwhile, some petrochemical plants in Daesan were spared from the power outages, including the 760,000 tonne/year cracker of LG Chemical and the 1m tonne/year cracker of Honam, company officials said.

Daesan, located on the west coast of South Korea, is periodically struck by thunderstorms, some of which had caused power outages that shut petrochemical plants in the past.

With additional reporting by Becky Zhang and Felicia Loo

($1 = €0.78)

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