UPDATE: Saudi's PetroRabigh to shut PP, PE plant in October

According to market sources, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co (PetroRabigh) is planning to carry out a maintenance schedule at its PP and PE lines in Jubail, Saudi Arabia this early October.

The LLDPE line with annual capacity of 600,000 tons/year and the homo-PP line with annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year are to be taken off-stream. While the LLDPE line needs 20 days to complete the turnaround, the homo-PP line might need up to 30 days, sources added. Production at other units including cracker, HDPE line and PP block copolymer line is not affected.

Regional players are speculating that the producer’s allocation for LLDPE in the coming month would be very limited due to the shutdown, which would support the market from any major downturn.