UpdateThai BST declares FM in Map Ta Phut; BR, SBR plants damaged

08 May 2012 05:53  [Source: ICIS news]

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SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Bangkok Synthetics Co Ltd (BST) and its affiliate BST Elastomers have declared force majeures on overall production in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, following a fatal explosion and fire on 5 May that damaged some of their plants at the site.

At least 10 people were killed, while more than 140 were injured from the incident that occurred at a toluene vessel inside BST Elastomers' plant at around 15:20 Bangkok time (08:20 GMT) on Saturday, and was put under control at around 18:00 on the same day.

BST Elastomers’ 55,000 tonne/year butadiene rubber (BR) unit and its 75,000 tonne/year synthetic butadiene rubber (SBR) plant sustained “severe damage” from the weekend incident and are expected to be down for months, the company said in a letter to customers dated 8 May.

“There was an explosion and fire at the BR unit on May 5th 2012 and subsequently damaged the SBR facility,” the company said in the letter.

BST Elastomers expects the BR unit to be shut for six months, while its SBR plant will likely be off line for two months, the company said in the letter.

BST, on the other hand, expects the shutdown of its plants, including a 140,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit and a 55,000 tonne/year methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) unit, to last at least a month, a company source said.

Operations were also halted at the company’s 55,000 tonne/year of butane liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit, a 40,000 tonne/year of C4 raffinate (isobutylene) unit and a 35,000 tonne/year butene-1 unit, the source said.

Read John Richardson and Malini Hariharan’s blog – Asian Chemical Connections

By: Helen Yan
+65 6780 4359

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