DATE : 2014-06-07

 

Americas Styrenics styrene facility in St James, Louisiana, has returned to normal rates, the company said on Friday.

The return to normal rates for the St James facility, which has a combined nameplate capacity of 950,000 tonnes/year, was in line with expectations.

The facility had been operating at 50% capacity since mid-April as part of a planned turnaround.

Although St James was returning to normal rates, some suppliers have said they are now sold out for June material.

This combined with the explosion at Shell’s joint venture styrene monomer (SM)/propylene oxide (PO) plant (MSPO-2) at Moerdijk in the Netherlands late on Tuesday has lent support to stronger prices in the US.

The MSPO-2 facility is owned by Ellba, a 50:50 joint venture between Shell Chemicals and BASF. It can produce 550,000 tonnes/year of styrene and 250,000 tonnes/year of PO, according to Shell’s website.

Current US styrene spot prices for June were discussed at 71.25-73.00 cents/lb ($1,571-1,609/tonne), up from 68.00-69.50 cents/lb a week earlier.

 

SOURCE Icis News