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(ICIS) -- Some petrochemical plants in
Japan restarted operations on Thursday, slowly ramping up production almost a
week after the deadly quake and tsunami struck, but the country is beset by
bigger problems - the Fukushima nuclear crisis and a consequent shortage of fuel
and electricity. With four crackers still down, olefins shipments of at least 25
KT for March had to be cancelled, according to traders.
The shut crackers have a combined ethylene capacity of 1.81m tonnes/year, representing
about 23% of Japan’s total.
Meanwhile, the restart of Kyokuto Petroleum’s 145.000 bbl/day refinery in
Chiba slightly increased Japan’s refining capacity, which was cut by 22% after
the quake-related shutdowns at five refineries. The other four refineries,
including Cosmo Oil’s 220.000 bbl/day facility that burned for days after the
quake, have yet to restart.
There is no available assessment yet on losses to the country's
petrochemical industry, but it could be huge given significant damage to
infrastructure in the northeastern regions.
mrcplast.com
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