Colombia's Ecopetrol targets to normalize BTX production this week

22-Sep-14

Colombia's Ecopetrol aims to have production at its aromatics complex in Barrancabermeja normalized next week after a longer-than-expected restart process, a source with knowledge of company operations has said to Platts. The complex, which recently underwent a turnaround, has experienced operational issues since its restart earlier this month, the source said. "As is usually the case with major stoppages, restarts can prove more complicated than anticipated," the source said. A buyer source said he, too, had been told by the company about the normalization of production as early as Monday of next week. Ecopetrol stopped production of benzene, toluene and xylenes July 12 as part of a planned maintenance at Barrancabermeja originally scheduled to continue through late August. The majority state-owned oil, gas and petrochemical company produces approximately 50,000 tpa of benzene and 60,000 tpa of toluene and mixed xylenes combined at the Barrancabermeja complex, according to data supplied by the company to APLA, Latin America's main petrochemical association. Ecopetrol exports a portion of that toluene and xylenes production -- around 1,500 mt/month of each aromatic -- on a contract/tender basis to the US Gulf Coast, market and company sources have said.