Japanese petrochemical major - Mitsubishi Chemical may skip the government mandated planned maintenance of its Kashima located naphtha cracker no-2 in 2012, subject to approval from the government.
This, is so that both naphtha crackers are not shutdown for a turnaround in the same year, since its cracker no-1 is scheduled for a planned maintenance from May 10 to July 4, 2012.
Mitsubishi used to undertake maintenance of both its crackers, once every four years. But following a fire in 2008, the government has mandated it to conduct checks on an annual basis.
The company has sought permission to shut the cracker for checks once every two years and is hopeful of getting the requisite permissions, said an official of Mitsubishi.
Naphtha line no-1 has an ethylene production capacity of 375,000 tons per annum, while line no-2 has capacity of 453,000 tons per annum.