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Steam biscuit, polymer units unaffected by fire
Steam Cracker Restart Scheduled for This Week
Singapore –
On September 26, a fire broke out at the Bantangas complex in the Philippines JG Summit Petrochemical, but no impact was observed along the olefin production units, sources from S&P Global Platts confirmed on September 29.
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The company plans to restart its naphtha-fueled steam cracker later in the week ending October 3, and the company’s polymer and cracker units were not damaged by the fire that occurred in an effluent containment area of the complex. sources said.
“The polymer units are working, while the expected restart of the cracker is within a week,” said a company source, adding that the fire incident occurred near the dock area and did not spread to major sites. manufacturing.
“The cracker was closed for a short time for other reasons even before the fire, and the fire is unrelated to the operation of the cracker,” said another company source.
JG Summit plans to run the cracker at full capacity after the reboot, the first source said.
Asian steam crackers have been operating primarily at or near full capacity to capitalize on positive olefin margins.
The spread between Northeast Asia Ethylene CFR and CFR Japan’s Naphtha Physical Assessments widened by $ 3.75 / mt week-over-week to $ 120.50 / mt, or 35.77%, from September 1, at a maximum of 13 months of $ 457,375 / t at the close of the Asian market. on September 28, the Platts data showed. The spread was highest for the last time on August 12, 2019 at $ 458.50 / mt. Since September 3, the spread had risen above the typical breakeven margin of $ 350 / t, according to market sources and data from Platts. It has remained above the integrated producers’ breakeven margin of around $ 250 / t since May 12.
The company’s naphtha-fired steam cracker in Batangas can produce 216,000 mt / year of pyrolysis gasoline, or pygas; 320,000 mt / year of ethylene, 190,000 mt / year of propylene; and 110,000 mt / year of mixed C4.
Next capacity
At the Batangas complex, JG Summit has new projects underway to expand its olefin capacity and produce aromatics.
The company plans to complete a 250,000 mt / year high-density polyethylene plant by the fourth quarter of 2021. In addition to the new HDPE plant in Batangas, the capacity of an existing polypropylene plant at the same site will rise to 300,000 mt / year from 190,000 t / year. There are currently two linear low-density polyethylene / HDPE revolving plants in Batangas with a combined nominal capacity of 320,000 mt / year.
Construction of the company’s first benzene-toluene-xylenes unit had been delayed due to the spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines, as works were initially planned to be completed in June but is now scheduled for the first quarter. of 2021.
However, in general, the fundamentals of the aromatics markets were still mixed. The lower run rate at some refineries in the region was described as lending some support by slowing the previous oversupply.
JG Summit’s BTX unit would have a production capacity of 126,000 mt / year of benzene, 76,000 mt / year of toluene, 46,000 mt / year of mixed xylenes, 29,000 mt / year of non-aromatics with about 21,000 mt / year of aromatic materials mixed, including C9 +, all derived from pygas feedstock produced from the existing steam cracker.
The Batangas PE facility is a joint venture between JG Summit Holdings and Marubeni Corp.
