(ICIS) -- Southeast Asian olefins spot prices could hit fresh highs this week if major supplier Shell keeps buying spot ethylene cargoes due to an ongoing outage at its 800 KTa cracker in Singapore, market sources said on Monday. Shell failed to restart the mixed-feed cracker in Bukom Island over the weekend and the facility is not likely to resume operations until May due to ongoing technical issues, they said.
Ethylene touched a 14-month high of USD 1.320-1.400/tonne (EUR 911-966/tonne) CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia last week, while propylene rose to USD 1.500-1.560/tonne CFR (cost and freight) southeast (SE) Asia - the highest since 5 September 2008 - amid tightened supply in the region, according to ICIS data.
Shell's cracker in Singapore has been down since 18 March and was initially expected to restart on 10 April, but operational problems at the unit persisted, market sources said.