Saudi International Petrochemical Company, or Sipchem, has deferred plans to shut its 330,000 mt/year vinyl acetate monomer plant in Jubail as the plant's catalyst continued to work above expectations. The shutdown, however, it likely will be somewhere in the fourth quarter toward the end of the year, a source close to the company said Thursday.
The company had in early July planned to shut the plant for 15-20 days in August or September to replace the catalyst, and then postponed the shutdown to September or October, the source said earlier.
Operations at Sipchem's plant are having an impact on markets in India and Southeast Asia, as it is the only VAM plant in the Middle East, while India has none and Southeast Asia has only one -- a 170,000 mt/year plant run by Celanese in Singapore.
The shutdown of Sipchem's plant will result in a potential loss of around 13,500-18,000 mt of VAM output, according to industry estimates.
