Braskem's first cargo of US ethane was expected to arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday aboard the Gaschem Arctic.
The journey marked the first time US ethane moved to South America, as the previous exports out of Enterprise Products' Morgan's Point, Texas, ethane export terminal traveled to Europe and India.
The 9,133 mt Gaschem Arctic departed from the Morgan's Point terminal on February 4, according to cFlow, Platts' trade-flow software. The vessel, which entered Guanabara Bay on Wednesday, is carrying about 78,000 barrels of ethane to Braskem's Rio de Janeiro plant, a source said.
The company owns four crackers in Brazil -- with the 520,000 mt/year Rio unit the only one cracking gas exclusively.
Braskem has also time-chartered the Gaschem Atlantic and Caribic to move ethane, a shipbroker said.
The 9,127 mt Gaschem Atlantic is laden in the Gulf of Mexico and expected to arrive in Rio de Janeiro on March 10, according to cFlow.
A Braskem spokesman declined to comment.
Market sources in Brazil early last week talked of ethylene production issues at Braskem's Rio plant stemming from a January 18 fire at parent company Petrobras' nearby Refinaria Duque de Caxias (Reduc) refinery. The fire forced state-owned Petrobras to cut ethane supply to Braskem's Rio plant by 50%, sources said. That, in turn, forced Braskem to shut down a polyethylene line at its Rio plant, sources said.
A Rio-based polymers distributor this week said PE production and availability from the Rio plant had returned to normal levels.
Both Braskem and Petrobras last week issued statements saying production and operations at their respective plants have not been impacted by last month's fire.
Braskem announced in May 2016 that it had signed a 10-year contract with Enterprise Products to supply ethane based on Mont Belvieu pricing. The supply contract came as Braskem was looking to diversify its feedstocks, retrofitting a cracker in Camacari, Brazil, to take up to 15% ethane.
Enterprise's 200,000 b/d Morgan's Point terminal came online in the fall of 2016.
Ineos, Borealis, Reliance and Sabic also have ethane supply contracts with Enterprise. Ineos and Borealis loaded their first US Gulf Coast ethane shipments in October and September, respectively. Reliance and Sabic loaded in December.
