MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea's Lotte Chemical is expected to restore normal runs at its naphtha cracker in Yeosu in about two weeks after technical problems led to cuts in operating rates at the 1 million tonnes per year (tpy) unit, trade sources said, as per Reuters.
The petrochemical maker cut the operating rates to about 75 percent earlier this week, but it was unclear what the operating rates had been before the cuts as the cracker had undergone a month-long maintenance, and restarted operations earlier this month.
A Lotte Chemical spokesman was not available for comment. "The downtime will result in a demand lost of about 45,000 tonnes of naphtha," a Singapore-based trader said.
Although the volumes were small, traders said it would still hurt the sellers as they have been struggling under high stockpiles for most of the year.
Lotte Chemical operates another 1 million tpy cracker in Daesan and the unit is operating at full capacity, the sources said.
As MRC informed earlier, Lotte Chemical Corp. has finalized the takeover of Samsung Group’s chemical units.The company said that it paid for money to acquire Samsung SDI Chemical on Apr. 29 and completed the acquisition of Samsung Group’s chemical businesses in about six months after the announcement of "Big Deal" in October 2015.
Established in 1976, Lotte Chemical has been solidifyng its position by localizing cutting-edge petrochemical technologies. Among the high-quality products produced by Lotte Chemical through its efficient processes are ethylene, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, functional resin, EG, SM, PIA, PET, etc. Lotte Chemical’s products are being distributed to 152 countries around the world. With the acquisition of Pakistan’s PTA in 2009, Artenius in the UK in 2010 and Titan Chemical Corp., Lotte Chemical is now able to efficiently supply excellent products to an increasing number of countries. The company is further accelerating its efforts to strengthen its global competitiveness by establishing overseas branches in Hong Kong, Russia, and USA, along with the sales corporation in China for active sales activities both in domestic and abroad.
MRC