UPDATE: South Korea’s Hanwha Total to restart cracker by early June

It is reported that Hanwha Total Petrochemical is planning to restart its sole naphtha cracker in the southwestern city of Daesan, South Korea by the beginning of June at the earliest. 

The cracker was taken off-stream in late March 2019 for debottlenecking, which would boost ethylene output by 28% from the current production of 1.1 million tons to 1.41 million tons/year. Meanwhile, propylene output would increase by 14% to 980,000 tons from the existing 860,000 tons/year.

There are concerns that the restart would face delay due to the on-going labour strike over wages. However, the company spokesperson informed that unless the strike extends, it would not affect the startup schedule of the cracker.