Earthquake forces Japanese petchem plants to shut

Japanese petrochemical producers have been forced to shut their plants because of the impact of an earthquake that hit northeast Japan's Fukushima prefecture on 13 February.

Mitsui Chemicals halted operations of the entire Ichihara petrochemical complex in east Japan's Chiba prefecture, including its 612,000 t/yr ethylene cracker because of power outage. The plant is undamaged but the company is currently carrying out safety inspections. It aims to resume operations in 10-14 days but the restart may be earlier, the company said.

Mitsui Chemicals is also investigating the impact on product shipments but is planning to sell from its inventories for now. It also manufactures propylene and polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene (PP) at the Chiba plant.

Sumitomo Chemical stopped operations at undisclosed parts of its production complex in Chiba after the power outage. The firm targets to resume operations as soon as its facilities pass damage assessments. There was no impact on shipments from the Chiba plant.

Sumitomo Chemical produces various basic products at the plant including styrene monomers, butadiene and benzene. It also manufactures PP compound in Chiba.

Operations at Mitsubishi Chemicals' 542,000 t/yr Kashima ethylene cracker in east Japan's Ibaraki prefecture and Chiba plants including refiner Idemitsu's 374,000 t/yr, Maruzen's 525,000 t/yr and Keiyo Ethylene's 768,000 t/yr crackers were unaffected by the earthquake. Refiner Eneos was operating normally at its 448,000 t/yr ethylene cracker and petrochemical production at the Kawasaki plant in east Japan's Kanagawa prefecture.

Eneos halted operations at the Sendai refinery in northeast Japan's Miyagi prefecture and the Negishi refinery in Kanagawa. But the impact on petrochemical production at these sites is unclear. Eneos produces 100,000 t/yr of propylene at Sendai, while it manufactures 170,000 t/yr of benzene and 70,000 t/yr of propylene at Negishi.

By Nanami Oki