Maintenance shutdown at 3 JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp propylene plants in Sep, Oct

28-Jul-10

Japan's largest propylene producer - JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., is slated to shut three propylene plants in September and October for maintenance. The planned outages are expected to cost JX about 31,000 tons in lost propylene output between September 19 and November 22, as per Platts. A fluid catalytic cracker at Negishi with 70,000 tpa propylene capacity will be first in line to be shuttered from Sep 19 to Oct 25, followed by an olefins conversion unit at Kawasaki with 140,000 ton propylene capacity for 22 days in October, followed by a FCC at Mizushima with propylene capacity of 120,000 tpa for 47 days starting October 6. Most of the company's exports are to China. On an average, China imports about 30,000 tons of propylene each month from Japan, the bulk of which comprises cargoes made by JX.