CPC to keep troubled naphtha cracker at Lin Yuan shut until Sept

15-Jul-05

Problems are brewing at Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp No. 3 naphtha cracker at Lin Yuan. CPC has moveed forward the start date of a 40-day turnaround from early October to early August at the troubled No 3 naphtha cracker, with a capacity of 230,000 mta of ethylene. The company awaits approval for the rescheduling, wherein the Lin Yuan shut down will progress until early or mid-September. Earlier this quarter, a blast occurred at a pipeline linking the cracker to a hydrogen storage tank while the unit was being restarted after a month-long shutdown. CPC had idled the No 3 cracker from May 27 due to slow-moving demand for ethylene derivatives.