Sinochem Quanzhou fire prompts force majeure yet short-term impact on PP and HDPE seen as limited
The incident resulted in seven injuries, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation
Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co. Ltd. declared force majeure following a fire on 13 November at the compressor of its No. 1 light hydrocarbon recovery unit. The incident resulted in seven injuries, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Quanzhou site operates multiple polyolefin units, including a 200,000 tons/year No. 1 PP plant, a 350,000 tons/year No. 2 PP plant, and a 400,000 tons/year HDPE facility. The fire forced the No. 1 PP and HDPE units offline, while the No. 2 PP plant continued normal operations.
|
Unit |
Capacity (tons/year) |
Status |
|
PP No. 1 |
200,000 |
Offline due to fire |
|
PP No. 2 |
350,000 |
Operational |
|
HDPE |
400,000 |
Offline due to fire |
Market sources indicated that the shutdown is unlikely to significantly affect domestic supply. Sinochem had previously scheduled a month-long maintenance program for all PP and PE units starting in early December, and it is possible that downtime from the fire will be integrated into this planned schedule.
Consequently, any short-term disruption is expected to be limited. Buyers and traders are monitoring developments closely, but market participants do not anticipate notable price fluctuations unless additional units are affected or the outage extends beyond expectations.
Written by: Aiman Haikal