Mar China BD Supply Likely to Ramp Up
By the end of February, there were 45 butadiene producers included in the normal load calculation in China, with a total capacity of 6,536kt/a. The sample capacity was divided by region as follows.
China Butadiene Producer Capacity by Region
In February, the operating rate of China’s butadiene industry was 77.21%, up 6.18% MoM. According to SCI, the monthly output of butadiene was around 423.9kt. Within this month, the butadiene units at Shandong Yuhuang Chemical, Sinopec Qilu Company (55kt/a), Sinopec & SK (Wuhan) Petrochemical (60kt/a) and Shandong Wintter Chemical remained offline. Fujian Refining & Petrochemical restarted its 60kt/a unit in end-January. Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical put feedstock into its butene ODH unit in early February, with products available on February 11. Jiutai Energy Inner Mongolia restarted its butene ODH unit on February 15, and premium-grade products were expected to be available in end-February. In mid-February, Shandong Yulong Petrochemical ran its unit at relatively lower loads. Other butadiene units saw limited changes in February.
Overall, in February, the operating rate of China’s butadiene industry leveled up MoM. However, due to fewer natural days in February, butadiene output was lower than the previous month. Butadiene units with a total capacity of 405kt/a were shut down in February, and it was estimated that the output losses caused by maintenance reached around 28.19kt.
As seen from the above chart, the operating rate of units at most of China’s butadiene producers remained stable with a 91% share of the total in February, up 2 percentage points MoM. As for production technologies, among butadiene units via butene ODH technology, the units at Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical and Jiutai Energy Inner Mongolia were restarted. The butene ODH units at Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical and Nanjing Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology ran their units normally. As seen from the butadiene units via C4 extraction technology, the operating rate at Fujian Refining & Petrochemical, Wanhua Chemical Group and Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical ramped up, while that at Shandong Yulong Petrochemical, etc. declined MoM. Other butadiene units saw limited changes. On the whole, China’s butadiene supply dropped MoM.
In March, the butadiene units at Shandong Yuhuang Chemical, Sinopec Qilu Company (one set) and Sinopec & SK (Wuhan) Petrochemical (60kt/a) may remain offline. Gulei Petrochemical plans to take maintenance of its butadiene unit in early March. Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical plans to take maintenance of its butadiene unit in late March. Other butadiene units may run normally, without scheduled unit maintenance. It is estimated that China’s butadiene supply may gain ground in March.
All information provided by SCI is for reference only, which shall not be reproduced without permission.
Please click "Read more" for the full article.
