Mitsui Chemicals’ Ethylene Plant Restart Hits Snags, 610,000 Tons of Capacity Recovery Faces Numerous Challenges, Market Supply Further Tightens!

On October 2, Mitsui Chemical Co., Ltd. officially announced that the 610,000 ton ethylene plant of its wholly-owned subsidiary Osaka Petrochemical Industry Co., LTD. (OPC) had fully resumed production and operations on September 30 after a delayed resumption at the end of July.

Back in June this year, Mitsui Chemical announced that due to technical obstacles, the 610,000 tons of ethylene plant in Japan was suspended, and the necessary maintenance work was planned to be completed by the end of July. However, in the process of restarting and repairing the cracking furnace on July 23, the company encountered technical difficulties with the steam supply system, which delayed the restart plan.

Regarding the adjustment of ethylene production capacity, it is worth noting that Mitsui Chiba ethylene plant is also facing possible changes. On March 27, 2024, Mitsui Chemical and Idemitsu reached a strategic cooperation agreement in which the two sides agreed to optimize overall production efficiency by integrating the resources of the Chiba ethylene plant. Currently, Mitsui has an annual ethylene capacity of 550,000 tons in the Chiba region, while Idemitsu has an annual capacity of 370,000 tons in the region. The integration plan will involve shutting down some of Idemitsu's facilities and bringing its plants into Mitsui Chemical's operations.

In addition, since 2024, China's ethylene market has also entered the peak of centralized maintenance. Many enterprises, including National Energy Baotou Coal Chemical, Zhejiang Petrochemical, Satellite Chemical, Jingbian Yanchang, Lanzhou Petrochemical Yulin Chemical, Dushanzi Petrochemical, Lianhong New Materials, Zhongtian Hechuang, Shenhua Xinjiang, etc., have been repaired successively, resulting in a tense situation in the effective supply of ethylene in the first half of the year. However, with the gradual resumption of production of various plants, ethylene prices in Northeast Asia have shown a downward trend in September.