Braskem's first cargo of US ethane to arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

24-Feb-17

Braskem's first cargo of US ethane is expected to arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday aboard the Gaschem Arctic, as per Platts. The journey marked the first time US ethane moved to South America, as the previous exports out of Enterprise Products' Morgan's Point, Texas, ethane export terminal traveled to Europe and India.

The 9,133 mt Gaschem Arctic departed from the Morgan's Point terminal on February 4, according to cFlow, Platts' trade-flow software. The vessel, which entered Guanabara Bay on Wednesday, is carrying about 78,000 barrels of ethane to Braskem's Rio de Janeiro plant, as per a source. The company owns four crackers in Brazil -- with the 520,000 m tpa Rio unit the only one cracking gas exclusively. Braskem has also time-chartered the Gaschem Atlantic and Caribic to move ethane, a shipbroker said.
The 9,127 mt Gaschem Atlantic is laden in the Gulf of Mexico and expected to arrive in Rio de Janeiro on March 10, according to cFlow. A Braskem spokesman declined to comment.