Honam Petrochemical cuts run rate by 10% at 1 mln tpa Daesan cracker
March 30/2012
(nctww) -- Honam Petrochemical is operating its 1 mln
tpa cracking complex at Daesan at around 90% of its capacity following
mechanical trouble linked to a compressor.
It is expected that the South
Korean could maintain the run cuts until the cracker goes into debottlenecking
work beginning around the middle of April to raised capacity to 1.05 mln tpa.
Honam operates a 750,000 tpa cracking complex in Yeosu that has been shut in
early March for 40 days maintenance and expansion that will boost its annual
capacity to 1 million.
These shutdowns coincide with Japanese Showa
Denko’s emergency shutdown of operations at its 695,000 tpa cracking complex on
March 15 after a cooling unit burst. Market players opine that any loss of
demand in naphtha caused by these setbacks would prove temporary as Honam would
return to with stronger demand due to its expanded capacity.