Market sources informed SSESSMENTS.COM that three large steam crackers are poised to start up in China in August. These crackers are expected to boost consumption of petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha and LPG in China. Those three crackers are operated by Bora LyondellBasell, Sinopec, and Sinochem.
Bora LyondellBasell, a 50:50 joint venture between Bora Chemical and LyondellBasell, has set an official startup date for its new cracker at Panjin, Liaoning province, for August 2. Market sources told SSESSMENTS.COM that the company had already started trial runs at the unit on July 27, but it is not confirmed. Bora LyondellBasell’s cracker can produce up to 1.1 million tons/year of ethylene and 690,000 tons/year of propylene.
The new unit is integrated with a downstream 120,000 tons/year butadiene plant, a 450,000 tons/year LLDPE unit, a 350,000 tons/year HDPE unit, a 350,000 tons/year SM unit, and a 600,000 tons/year PP plant. The SM unit is in the process of startup. The PE and PP units will be started up together with the cracker, using purchased ethylene and propylene for initial production. Meanwhile, the BD plant is scheduled to start on August 7.
Bora LyondellBasell will purchase propane from the merchant market that will make up around 44% of the cracker feed slate. Bora’s 140,000 bpd Panjin refinery will provide naphtha and light hydrocarbons which will account for the remaining 56% of the feed slate. Under the JV contract, LyondellBasell will market the HDPE and PP produced from the facility, while Bora Chemical will market the LLDPE and SM.
Market participants told SSESSMENTS.COM that state-owned Sinopec had set a startup date for its new cracker at Zhanjiang in Guangdong province on August 21. The cracker can produce up to 800,000 tons/year of ethylene and 430,000 tons/year of propylene that will be used as feedstock to downstream 350,000 tons/year HDPE, 100,000 tons/year EVA, 250,000/400,000 ton/year EO/EG, and 550,000 tons/year PP units.
The third cracker is operated by state-controlled firm Sinochem which plans to start it up by end-August. Sinochem’s new cracker will have a capacity to produce 1 million tons/year of ethylene and 500,000 tons/year of propylene. It is integrated with downstream 120,000 tons/year BD, 100,000 tons/year EVA, 400,000 tons/year HDPE, 580,000 tons/year PP, and 200,000/450,000 PO/SM units.
