CBIChina

Maoming Petrochemical (PC) aromatics unit has now produced on-spec products and reached operating rates of 80% by the end of June, after its #2 ethylene cracker unit restarted on 19 June.
Maoming PC, a Sinopec subsidiary located in Guangdong province, was forced to shut its aromatics unit due to lack of feedstock after a lightning-strike caused a fire at its 620,000 tonne/year #2 cracker on 3 June. The unit was restarted on 6 June and achieved operating rates of 30%, following the resumption of operations at its 380,000 tonne/year #1 cracker.
Fortunately, traders say the unexpected cracker outage at Maoming PC has had only a limited impact on toluene and mixed xylene in the south China market.
The company did not make any official announcement about reducing aromatics supply, but the issue was brought to light by traders, who were bracing for some impact on south China market prices, which have found support from the cracker shutdown.
The aromatics unit produces 240,000 tonne/year of benzene, 140,000 tonne/year of toluene, and 105,000 tonne/year of xylene.