Petrochem majors to shut petrochem plants for maintenance

04-Sep-13

Dow, SABIC, Total and Braskem plan to shut petrochem plants for maintenance this month. Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) will shut one of two crackers at its Netherlands plant later this month, as per Reuters. Announcements of turnarounds have been made at Dow's Spanish plant and one of Braskem's Brazil crackers, while Total is expected to permanently close one of its petrochemical units. Traders said the closure of the petrochemicals units is unlikely to undermine demand for naphtha, which has been unusually buoyant this week due largely to refinery run cuts and maintenance outages, notably at Algeria's Skikda refinery. The Olefins 4 cracker at SABIC's Geleen will close for six weeks from Sept. 15 for routine maintenance work and as part of a 135 million euro (US$178 mln) upgrade to increase energy efficiency. The upgrade will reduce the cracker's energy consumption by 8% and increase production by 2%. Later this week, Dow Chemical Co. plans to shut down an ethylene production unit in Tarragona, Spain for maintenance. The La Pobla de Mafumet/Perafort unit will be out for 15 days. Brazil's Braskem will close one of four crackers in Brazil for maintenance from early October to early Nove Naphtha output has not been profitable for European refiners in recent years, with production outweighing demand and the excess going to Asia.