A fire broke out at South Korean refiner SK Energy's Ulsan plant early this morning, while the facility was undergoing partial maintenance.
The fire broke out within a hydrogen production unit at the residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) complex, said sources close to the refiner. SK Energy did not immediately respond to Argus' request for comment.
But the RFCC unit is already undergoing planned maintenance, and the immediate impact is expected to be limited, said market participants. It remains unclear at the moment if the maintenance period will be extended.
SK Energy, a subsidiary of South Korean energy giant SK Group, is conducting maintenance at its 170,000 b/d No.3 crude distillation unit, residual fluid catalytic cracker and a residue desulphurisation unit in October. It planned to shut these units from mid-October until around 20 November for planned works.
The refiner's downstream petrochemical units at the same site remains unaffected, with sufficient feedstock supplies to continue producing paraxylene (PX), a source close to the operations said. SK Geo Centric Ulsan, another subsidiary of SK Group, has two PX units with a capacity of 400,000 t/yr each and one at 1mn t/yr capacity at Ulsan. All three PX units are currently operating at 75pc, the same source added.
