APLA ’14: Braskem mulling US ethane, propane imports for cracker

Interview story by Joseph Chang

RIO DE JANEIRO (ICIS)–Brazil’s Braskem is evaluating imports of US ethane and propane to feed its cracker in Rio de Janeiro, a senior executive said on Sunday.

“Right now we are analysing US ethane/propane imports for our existing gas cracker,” said Luciano Guidolin, executive vice president at Braskem.

“Right now we import a small amount of propane from the US,” he added.

Guidolin spoke to ICIS on the sidelines of the Latin American Petrochemical Association (APLA) conference.

Of Braskem’s four crackers, its sole gas cracker is in Rio de Janeiro – the former Rio Polimeros cracker.

“We have the capacity to increase our utilisation rate at Rio Polimeros. Right now we are running at around 80%,” said Guidolin.

While he would not comment on whether there are plans to convert the three naphtha crackers – in Sao Paulo, Camacari and Triunfo – to using natural gas liquids (NGLs), he said overall the company is “analysing opportunities for importing liquids”.

The APLA conference runs through Tuesday.