Corrects name of company in fifth paragraph
South Korean petrochemical producer LG Chemicals has been facing production issues at its 1.27mn t/yr Daesan-based naphtha cracker.
The cracker was shut on 2 June because of a technical problem and restarted in the afternoon of 4 June. But the restart process has not been smooth. LG Chemicals was also forced to shut its 165,000 t/yr butadiene plant and part of its styrene-butadiene rubber capacity at Daesan on 5 June.
The producer plans to shut the cracker again this weekend for repairs and expects to restart it after mid-June. Some market participants expect the cracker to be restarted on 20 June.
LG Chemicals had earlier sold at least 8,000t of ethylene for May delivery in the domestic market to Daesan-based Hanwha Total because of an extended turnaround at its Daesan cracker. Maintenance at the 1.9mn t/yr cracker had been planned from 27 March to 6 May, but the restart was delayed by a workers' strike that ran from 23 March to the end of May.
LG Chemicals may be forced to buy ethylene from the domestic spot market to maintain normal operations at its derivative units.
LG Chemicals operates a 200,000 t/yr styrene monomer unit, a 260,000 t/yr high-definition polyethylene (PE) unit and a 200,000 t/yr linear low-density PE unit in Daesan. But its derivative 380,000 t/yr polypropylene unit will be shut down with the Daesan-based cracker because of a lack of feedstock.
The cracker has a capacity of 650,000 t/yr for propylene. Its capacity was recently expanded from 1mn t/yr to 1.27mn t/yr in April.
