A fire led to shutdown of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd’s 520,000 tpa naphtha cracker. The naphtha cracker unit tripped due to apparent malfunctioning of some control systems and the furnace caught fire. The fire has been brought under control and no injury to any personnel has been reported. Production at naphtha cracker and the downstream units are estimated to be shut for about 1-2 weeks. This is the second incident at the site in about two months- the first being a deadly accident amid maintenance in May. Estimating by Haldia’s last years sales, production loss due to shutdown could average to approximately Rs 20 crore a day at last years prices. Since Haldia is not a major spot buyer, the impact on naphtha market is estimated to be miniscule if the shutdown period is limited. As of now, Haldia may not need to defer any term supplies, despite the shutdown. HPL buys naphtha feedstock from local refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and has term contracts with Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and Bahrain Petroleum Co (BAPCO).
06-Jul-09 
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