Shandong-based independent refineries' green petroleum coke (GPC) output would further decline in March-April due to converged coker maintenance schedules, C1 learned.
Around 4-mil-mt/yr of cokers are estimated to head into maintenance in the two months, equivalent to a daily drop of 2,100mt in GPC production, C1's research indicated. The decline accounts for 19% of the total coke output by these refineries.
Dongying Hi-Tech Ruilin Chemical Co Ltd plans to put its 1.2-mil-mt/yr coker into 20-day maintenance in late March, according to a refinery source.
Shandong Hi-tech Chemical Group also plans to shut down its 400,000mt/yr coker for routine maintenance in early April, a company source told C1. When the unit will be restarted is unknown so far.
GPC output loss would be 550mt/d in the former and 300mt/d in the latter, according to C1's calculation.
Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Co Ltd already halted coker operation for regular maintenance on Mar 4 in view of modest coking margins brought by hefty feedstock costs, C1 learned. The restart time of the coker also remains sketchy. Shandong independent refineries thus saw another 500m/d of GPC reduction.
As C1 reported earlier, Shandong Shenchi Chemical Co Ltd will start regular maintenance at its 1-mil-mt/yr coker in late March. Dongying Hualian Petrochemical Co Ltd will shut its 400,000mt/yr coker for turnarounds in late March as well. The two cokers normally yielded 450mt and 300mt of GPC per day, respectively.
Only Shandong Befar Binyang Petrochemical Co Ltd plans to restart its 1-mil-mt/yr coker at end March, revealed a company source. This coker has remained idle since end 2008. They refinery’s GPC daily output may reach around 650mt after the coker resumes operation, he said. Resources from the refinery will replenish domestic supplies to some extent, C1 believed.
On the whole, the converged maintenance plans and decreased supplies might lend a support to local GPC market in the near term, reckoned an industry source. However, whether GPC prices will go up remains uncertain in view of the current week fundamentals, he opined.
