Emergency shutdown at South Korea's KPIC naphtha cracker

According to market sources, Korea Petrochemical Industry Co. (KPIC) has unexpectedly shut its sole naphtha-fed steam cracker this morning due to a technical glitch.

Based in Onsan, South Korea, the cracker is able to produce 800,000 tons/year of ethylene and 500,000 tons/year of propylene. Prior to the shutdown, the cracker was operating at 92% rate and the company has been attempting to ramp up its production to full rate since restart in early June after completion of debottlenecking and turnaround. The restart schedule could not be ascertained.