Honam runs Daesan cracker at 90% on mechanical woes

03 April 2012 03:56  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--South Korea’s Honam Petrochemical has been running its 1m tonne/year cracker in Daesan at a reduced rate of 90% capacity since late March due to some mechanical problems, a company source said on Tuesday.

It has not been decided if the cracker will be shut for repairs and the source did not provide further details.

He said that the company has covered its ethylene and propylene requirements in April but did not rule out imports for May arrival if the Daesan cracker continues to operate at a reduced rate.

Discussions to buy ethylene and propylene have not started, he added.

Separately, Honam is expected to resume operations at its 750,000 tonne/year naphtha cracker at Yeosu next week following a planned shutdown since 1 March.

During the shutdown period, debottlenecking work was carried out to increase the cracker’s ethylene capacity by 250,000 tonnes/year to 1m tonnes/year.

By: Peh Soo Hwee
+65 6780 4359

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