MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, a subsidiary of one of the world's largest energy and chemical companies - Sinopec, said on Saturday an explosion had occurred on a pipeline carrying raw materials for making ethylene, injuring eight employees, reported Reuters.
A fire at the site of the explosion has been extinguished and the cause of the blast is under investigation, the company said in a notice posted on its official Weibo social media account.
Shanghai Petrochemical said in late March that it planned to shut around 50% of the capacity of its refinery and petrochemical facilities for planned maintenance. The refinery, which has an annual crude oil processing capacity of 16 million tonnes, was scheduled to carry out the overhaul in April and May.
As MRC wrote before, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical halted production at its cracker in Shanghai, China for a scheduled turnaround on April 18, 2021. It is expected that the maintenance works at this cracker with a total capacity of two lines of 800,000 mt/year of ethylene and 455,000 mt/year of propylene will continue for 45 days.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
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