Status of naphtha crackers in Japan

06-Apr-11

Platts reported that Japan's Idemitsu Kosan plans to restart its 374,000 tpa naphtha-fed steam cracker in mid-May after its annual maintenance. Of the four naphtha-fed crackers that were taken offline in the wake of the March 11 earthquake, two -- Maruzen Petrochemical and JX Nippon Oil and Energy -- have already been restarted. Maruzen's 550,000 tpa Chiba cracker was restarted with an initial run rate of 70-80% while JX's 404,000 tpa Kawasaki cracker has been up since late March, with a run rate of 70%. The remaining two crackers, which belong to Mitsubishi Chemical and are based at Kashima, are likely to remain shut till at least late May. Mitsubishi Chemical's No. 1 cracker is able to produce 375,000 tpa of ethylene, while the No. 2 cracker has an ethylene output 476,000 tpa.