Korea’s KPIC shuts Onsan naphtha cracker as planned for repairs

23 April 2012 05:43  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Korea Petrochemical Industry Co (KPIC) shut its 470,000 tonne/year naphtha cracker in Onsan as scheduled on 22 April for mechanical repairs, a company source said on Monday.

Operations at the cracker, which was running at 100% capacity before the shutdown, are expected to resume on 29 or 30 April, the source said.

KPIC’s three derivative high density polyethylene (HDPE) lines in Onsan that have a combined capacity of 530,000 tonnes/year were also shut on 22 April.

In addition, the company took its three polypropylene (PP) lines with a combined capacity of 470,000 tonnes/year at the same site off line on 23 April, he said.

The PE and PP units are expected to remain shut until the cracker is restarted at the end of the month, the source said.

He added that there was no need to buy ethylene and propylene spot cargoes as the downstream units were not running.

Market players initially said the shutdown at the cracker would cause some upward pressure for prices, but as KPIC also shut its downstream units there was impact on the spot market.

By: Peh Soo Hwee
+65 6780 4359

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