JAPAN DISASTER: Mitsubishi Chem Kashima crackers to stay shut

24 March 2011 06:22  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical will take at least two months to resume operations at its two crackers in Kashima after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on 11 March damaged some infrastructure, the company said late on Wednesday.

“All production facilities are shut down; all on-site power generation facilities and others are shut down,” the company said in a statement.

Mitsubishi Chemical shut its Kashima-based crackers – the 375,000 tonne/year No 1 naphtha cracker and the 453,000 tonne/year No 2 naphtha cracker – following the natural disaster earlier this month.

Damage to berths, roads and other infrastructure around the plants’ site will make it “next to impossible” to handle any delivery or shipments of cargoes, the company said.

“It has become clear that a part of utility infrastructure, in addition to the berths themselves, has been severely damaged,” it said.

The company has already begun rebuilding activities, it added.

Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database
Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections
Click here for the latest news on the Japan disaster

By: Nurluqman Suratman

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly