Braskem PP plant may appear in feedstock lurch |
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(ICIS) -- US
polypropylene (PP) producer Braskem America is looking at various options now
that the feedstock supply for its Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, plant has been
jeopardised, the company said on Monday. A 1 December announcement by Sunoco
that it will immediately shut down the main processing units at its Marcus Hook
refinery, more than seven months ahead of schedule, has created a "significant
challenge" for Braskem, according to PP market participants.
Sunoco,
which sold the Marcus Hook PP plant to Braskem in April 2010, provided it with a
significant percentage of the propylene it needs to make PP at the Marcus Hook
facility, sources said. A Braskem spokesman declined to respond to specific
questions about the situation, but said the company "is going to pursue both
short- and long-term options to continue to operate our Marcus Hook
polypropylene plant, including the use of all legal actions and remedies
available". Sunoco spokesman Joe McGinn declined to comment beyond saying that
Sunoco is "working closely with Braskem on the situation".
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Braskem, which in October completed the purchase of two PP plants in
Texas at Freeport and Seadrift from US-based Dow Chemical, has a total US PP
capacity of 1.4m tonnes/year, making it the nation"s largest PP producer. The
company said would use its "global asset base, including the assets recently
acquired from Dow" to minimise the impact of Sunoco"s actions on its
customers.
In an August interview, Braskem America CEO Luiz de Mendonca said the
company is seeking other sources of propylene in the US, adding that by becoming
the largest user of merchant propylene in the US, the company will have a lot of
leverage.
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But in the short term, Robert Bauman, president of Polymer Consulting
International, said there is not a lot of spare propylene to be found in that
region of the US, adding that there are no pipelines that can easily transport
the feedstock to the Braskem plant.
mrcplast.com
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