Mexico's Pemex plans to shut a steam cracker at its Cangrejera complex in Veracruz state for eight days for maintenance this week, as per sources in Platts. Company sources declined to discuss the type of repairs needed. The steam cracker was originally scheduled to be taken offline February 15 for 14 days.
Pemex has two steam crackers, one at Morelos and one at Cangrejera, and each has a similar capacity. Ethylene production at the crackers is estimated at 500,000 m tpa each.
A scheduled downstream low-density polyethylene line shutdown will coincide with the cracker maintenance. The nameplate capacity of the LDPE line is 315,000/mt.
Pemex is Mexico's sole producer of polyethylene, but this will change when the Braskem-Grupo Idesa joint venture, Etileno XXI, comes online sometime this quarter.
The integrated project, located near Coatzacoalcos, will have 1 million m tpa of polyethylene capacity, much of which will be made available for the domestic market.
07-Mar-16 
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