Technical problems at its 400,000 tpa paraxylene unit have caused oil refiner Japan Energy Corp. to reduce operations at its plant in Chita, Aichi prefecture. Japan Energy, a unit of Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. reduced runs for the entire plant in western Japan after it discovered a malfunction at the aromatic recovery unit earlier this month. Investigations are on to identify the cause of the problem.
Japan Energy's unexpected reduction coincided with an unplanned shutdown at Showa Denko KK's plant. Showa Denko has shut a 653,000 tpa naphtha cracker in its Oita plant in southern Japan for several days because of technical problems. The shutdown will reduce the Oita plant's ethylene output by about 17,000 tons. The maintenance work would take 5-7 days, which could lead the company to cancel its purchase of a 25,000-30,000 ton naphtha cargo. Speculations are rife that the combined shutdowns would reduce naphtha demand and tighten ethylene supplies.
20-Dec-05 
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