South Korea’s S-Oil shut propylene unit on an unexpected technical issue

It is reported that S-Oil Corporation has unexpectedly shutdown the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) unit in Ulsan on 7 September 2020 due to an unspecified technical issue. 

The FCC unit has a designated capacity of 710,000 tons/year of propylene and 187,000 tons/year of ethylene. The plant is expected to remain off-line for four weeks. 

There has been no confirmation on the operation status at the downstream 405,000 tons/year PP plant. Market sources said that the producer would still be able to operate the PP line using propylene supply from the 200,000 tons/year RFCC unit. 

S-Oil Corporation has just restarted the FCC unit on 26 July 2020 and the PP plant in early August 2020 following a major maintenance shutdown.