MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF Total's Port Arthur cracker in Texas remained shut for maintenance, with no known target date for restart, reported S&P Global with reference to sources' statement Aug. 11.
The company said in a June 21 filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that there would be flaring and maintenance at its BTP Cracker Complex as a result of an unplanned outage that began June 11.
The maintenance was scheduled to begin June 22 and was expected to last 744 hours through July 23, according to the filing.
The JV’s steam cracker at Port Arthur has a production capacity of more than 1 million metric tons/year of ethylene and 544,000 metric tons/year of propylene, according to IHS Markit data.
The company was not immediately available for comment Aug. 11 or June 22, but said in the TCEQ filing that "this activity is to repair the propylene refrigerant compressor."
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC