Released on 04/01/13

Indonesia’s state-owned refiner Pertamina has delayed the start-up of its new 178,000 tonne/year propylene facility at Balongan in West Java to February from January this year, a company source said on Friday.

He did not mention the reasons for the postponement but the start-up of the residual catalytic cracking off-gas to propylene (ROPP) unit was previously delayed several times because of technical problems.

The source said the new ROPP unit was expected to produce around 9,000 tonnes of propylene per month in the initial phase.

Separately, Pertamina also operates a residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) at the same site. The unit is currently producing around 200-250 tonnes of propylene per day –less than half of its usual output – because of problems with the heat exchanger, the source added.

Source ICIS News

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  1. Pierre Peccoux AUTHOR

    NEWS UPDATE RELEASED ON 23/01/13 (DD/MM/YY) Indonesia’s state-owned refiner Pertamina is  now running its new 178,000 tonne/year propylene facility at Balongan in  West Java during the weekend of 19-20 January, a company source said on  Wednesday.  The residual catalytic cracking off-gas to propylene (ROPP) unit is  already producing on-spec propylene, but the output is currently  estimated at 7,500 tonnes per month, slightly less than the  initial projection of 9,000 tonnes per month. He did not elaborate  further.  The start-up of the ROPP unit was previously delayed several times because of technical problems. Pertamina also operates a residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) at  the site. The unit is still producing around 200-250 tonnes of propylene  per day – less than half its usual output – because of problems  with heat exchanger, the source said. Reduced output from the RFCC is expected to last until May, the source said. SOURCE ICIS News - For internal use only