Mitsubishi to restart No.2 naphtha cracker at Kashima post earthquake

20-May-11

Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp is to restart its No.2 naphtha cracker at the Kashima plant, with capacity to produce 453,000 tpa of ethylene, on Friday as scheduled, as per Reuters. The plant had been shutdown following the massive earthquake that hit Eastern Japan almost two months ago. The company, a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, plans to restart the 375,000 tpa No.1 cracker at the plant on June 27. Mitsubishi has delayed the start of scheduled maintenance on the No.2 cracker by around two months from its original plan of June 30 to replenish its petrochemical product inventories, which were depleted after its main Kashima complex was damaged in a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11. This year, its’ 375,000 tpa Kashima-1 is to be shut for maintenance from May 14-June 27, its 453,000 tpa Kashima 2 is to be shut from late Aug to mid Oct, its 450,000 tpa Mizushima plant is to be shut from May 16-June 29.