Saudi’s SABIC to restart smallest MTBE plant in H1 Oct - sources

23 September 2010 09:48  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) is poised to restart the smallest of its three methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plants at Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, following an unscheduled maintenance, industry sources said on Thursday.

“The plant will resume production in early October, or within the first half of October at the latest,” said a source, referring to the 300,000 tonne/year MTBE plant that was taken off line in early this month.

SABIC runs two other MTBE plants with capacities of 1m tonne/year and 700,000 tonne/year at the same site.

Limited spot supply from the Middle East has helped boost Asia MTBE prices to near five-month peaks. MTBE is used as an additive to improve gasoline's octane levels.

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By: Felicia Loo

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