Showa Denko KK halts all production at its sole 695,000 tpa Oita naphtha cracker

24-Mar-12

Showa Denko KK has halted all production at its sole 695,000 tpa naphtha cracker in Oita, western Japan, on March 15 due to a problem with a gas cooling unit, as per Reuters. The Japanese firm was conducting a partial shutdown of the plant since March 7 for checks on new furnaces, and decided to clean the facility when it encountered this problem. Restart has not yet been scheduled, but naphtha demand could reduce by at least 40,000 tons if the plant remains offline for just a one week. This unplanned shutdown is creating some uneasiness among naphtha sellers. This surplus naphtha coupled with gradually restored naphtha exports from India following refinery and port maintenance in February, could impact the markets.