Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical to shut Chiba BTX unit in Sept '11

14 December 2010 03:49  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Japanese producer Sumitomo Chemical will shut its Chiba-based facility producing benzene, toluene and solvent grade xylene in September 2011 for a turnaround, said a company source on Tuesday.

The plant would be off line for about one and a half months from early September, the source added.

The unit can produce 150,000 tonnes/year of benzene, 60,000 tonnes/year of toluene and 30,000 tonnes/year of solvent grade xylene.

The shutdown was in line with a planned turnaround at Sumitomo Chemical's cracker, the source added. Based on a previous ICIS story, the company was set to shut its 415,000 tonne/year Chiba cracker in September next year for 45 days.

The aromatics facility is currently running at 100%, backed by healthy cracker margins and steady demand from key downstream sectors like styrene monomer (SM), said the source.

Some of the other key Japanese aromatics producers are JX Nippon Oil & Energy and Taiyo Oil.

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By: Mahua Chakravarty
+65 6780 4359

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