Mitsubishi to restart 375,000 tpa No.1 naphtha cracker at Kashima this week

29-Jun-11

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp expects to restart its 375,000 tpa No.1 naphtha cracker at its Kashima plant on Thursday, three days later than planned. This delay has been caused because of more time than expected taken in starting its No. 2 cracker, as per Reuters. This will be the first time that the No.1 cracker resumes operation since the Kashima complex was damaged in a magnitude 9 earthquake on March 11. Scheduled maintenance on the No.2 cracker has been delayed by around two months from its planned date of June 30 as the company wants to replenish petrochemical product inventories. The company restarted its Mizushima cracker on June 25, including output of on spec products, four days earlier than planned. The following list details the maintenance schedule for the firm's naphtha crackers in Japan, including a Reuters projection for the last day of maintenance for the Kashima No.2 cracker. Location Capacity Maintenance for 2011 Kashima 1 375000 tpa May 14-June 30 Kashima 2 453000 tpa Aug 31 to around Oct. 18 Mizushima 450000 tpa May 16-June 25