Startup of the new Artlant PTA 700,000 mt/year purified terephthalic acid plant in Sines, Portugal is still on schedule for deliveries to begin by the end of the year although the plant will not be taking any deliveries of feedstock paraxylene in December, a source at Artlant said Friday.
The company, a subsidiary of La Seda de Barcelona, began the startup process at the end of July. It was expected to take three months with deliveries beginning in early November.
However, there have been some delays during the startup process. The Artlant source said that nothing had changed in the plan since the delivery start date was moved from November to December.
"We already have PX in our tanks," the source said. Last week traders reported that Artlant would not take any PX deliveries in December, leading them to speculate that at best the plant would not start up until early 2012.
On Wednesday a trader said Artlant was not canceling PX orders, but rather shifting the delivery dates from December to January.
