Shanghai SECCO shuts cracker, downstream plants after blast

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SINGAPORE (ICIS)–China’s Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical halted operations at its 1.2m tonne/year naphtha cracker and several downstream plants overnight following a blast at an olefins pipeline, sources close to the company said on Friday.

The cracker is the single largest ethylene plant in China. The cause of the blast at the company’s olefins pipeline in the petrochemical complex in Jinshan district of Shanghai is under investigation, with no definite restart dates set for the shut plants.

“It is too early to say when the cracker will restart,” said another source close to the company.

The company does not need to import ethylene spot cargoes since some of the derivative units were also taken off line, he said.

Ethylene daily spot prices were stable at $1,100–1,130/tonne (€792–813/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) NE Asia on Friday, according to ICIS data.

Shanghai SECCO’s 300,000 tonne/year linear low density PE (LLDPE) plant, 300,000 tonne/year high density PE (HDPE) unit and a 250,000 tonne/year PP plant were taken off line as a precautionary measure, said one of the sources.

Shanghai SECCO officials were not immediately available for comment.

Production at the company’s 260,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at the site was also stopped late on Thursday night, said another source.

“SECCO’s unexpected shutdown is unlikely to have a significant impact on the Chinese domestic ACN market, as inventories are ample and the players are preparing to go off for the mid-autumn day holiday from 10-12 September,” said a trader.

Chinese domestic ACN prices are holding steady at yuan (CNY) 16,000-16,200/tonne ($2,508-2,539/tonne) ex-tank.

Shanghai SECCO also shut its aromatics unit at the petrochemical complex, said a third source close to the company.

The aromatics unit can produce 230,000 tonnes/year of benzene, 145,000 tonnes/year of toluene and 100,000 tonnes/year of off-spec solvent grade xylene.

Gaoqiao Petrochemical also shut operations at its phenol-acetone plant in Caojing, which is near the site of Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical, said a company source.

The 200,000 tonne/year phenol-acetone plant relies on Shanghai SECCO’s cracker for propylene feedstock.

($1 = €0.72, $1 = CNY6.38)

Additional reporting by Dolly Wu, Moon Chen, Mahua Chakravarty, Helen Yan, Liu Xin, Bowei Loh and Ariel Chen

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