Saudi’s PetroRabigh plans MEG plant turnaround on 22 April

14 April 2011 06:06  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--PetroRabigh expects to shut its 600,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant at Rabigh in Saudi Arabia on 22 April for a 53-day turnaround, a company source said on Thursday.

The turnaround is the first of its kind after the plant was started up in April 2009, the source said.

The restart date has been scheduled on 14 June and the total production loss resulting from the shutdown would likely exceed 80,000 tonnes, he added.

The company has been discussing with its clients, mainly in China and India, to reduce their contracted volumes, the source said, adding the actual reduction would depend on individual cases.

A reduction ranging from 20-50% from April to June was heard from its Chinese customers.

Meanwhile, Marubeni, a trading house for PetroRabigh, had been buying spot cargoes to stock up on the material for the upcoming shutdown, a trader close to the company said.

PetroRabigh is a joint venture between Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco. The two parties hold a similar 37.5% share of the company, with the remainder listed on the Saudi stock exchange.

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By: Becky Zhang
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