MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has unexpectedly taken its No. 1 polypropylene (PP) unit in Guangdong Province offstream on 12 October 2020 - just a week after recovering from the earlier explosion at the ethylene oxide (EO) line that affected the entire complex, reported CommoPlast.
The No. 1 PP line has an annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year.
Meanwhile, the No. 2 PP unit with 200,000 tons/year output are operating at stable rates.
Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has been attempting to start-up the newly constructed plant since June 2020. The producer might need more time to reach stable production.
As MRC wrote previously, Sinopec Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical started selling first lots of on-spec PP materials in the open market with limited quantity from its new plant in China in early September, 2020. The company successfully completed the trial run at its newly constructed PP plant, consisting of two lines, and proceeded to commercial production within the month of August.
Thus, No. 1 PP unit with an annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year started producing commercial cargoes on 18 August 2020. The initial output might be homo-PP yarn before the company switches to PP fiber grades. And No. 2 PP line with nameplate capacity of 200,000 tons/year was scheduled to produce commercial cargoes on 24 August 2020, making homo-PP injection and high MI PP copolymer.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group"s key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC