Pemex has no timeline to bring its acrylonitrile plant in Morelos, Mexico, back online, a source at the state-owned company said Tuesday.
"We have no expectations for a certain date to restart the ACN plant, but it's certain the unit is going to be shut down for another month (July)," the source added.
Pemex brought the Morelos facility down for an unplanned maintenance shutdown May 31 because of the strong drop in ACN prices in Mexico.
ACN prices in Mexico were around $1,980/mt FOB plant in May before dropping $320/mt to $1,660/mt FOB plant in June, a second Pemex source said.
"The prices went too low to continue to run the plant," the second company source said.
In the US, ACN was assessed at $1,610/mt FOB USG on June 12 and has been heard around $1,600/mt FOB USG on Tuesday.
US ACN has dropped $700/mt since hitting a peak at $2,310/mt FOB USG on March 6, according to Platts data.
The Morelos ACN plant, a joint venture between Pemex and Unigel, has an estimated capacity of 60,000 mt/year.
Pemex also took down its 6,000 mt/year hydrocyanic acid plant and its acrylates plant, both in Morelos, the company source said.
With the plant being shut down for at least two months, Pemex was going to have a 12,000 mt surplus of chemical-grade propylene, with 8,000 mt to be used to build inventories. The other 4,000 mt was to be sold in the Mexican domestic market, the source said.
