Mitsui Chemicals shuts Chiba cracker on technical issue

Japanese petrochemical producer Mitsui Chemicals shut its Chiba-based cracker this week because of a technical issue, a few Japan-based naphtha traders said, without identifying what happened.

The restart schedule for the 612,000 t/yr ethylene cracker in Chiba isn't known yet, but it could take about a week, market participants said.

The Japanese firm on 2 August said that it was extending the shutdown of its Osaka ethylene cracker for another 2-3 months. Mitsui Chemicals halted the naphtha-fed 455,000 t/yr Osaka cracker in west Japan's Osaka prefecture from the start of June for planned maintenance, initially aiming to finish it at the end of July. But the company identified a technical issue on 23 July with the steam supply system when it was restarting the cracker after completing the turnaround.

A series of technical issues have forced Japanese cracker operators to shut their units or delay restarts. Idemitsu shut its 623,000 t/yr Tokuyama cracker on 15 July because of a gas leak. Maruzen Petrochemical also delayed the restart of its 525,000 t/yr Chiba cracker, which it shut on 15 May and was supposed to restart by mid-July. The shutdown was extended to the end of July, according to market participants.

By Aldric Chew and Nanami Oki