South Korean Petrochemical producer LG Chem. has restarted its naphtha cracker and SM units. Earlier the cracker was shut down in the first week of June because of a technical problem. LG Chem. restarted the facility on 4 June but could not run it smoothly, so it then shut the cracker again on 15-16 June for repairs. The company also had to shut its SM unit on 10 June because of a lack of feedstock. The shutdown, along with another production disruption in South Korea and delays to the arrival of imports, sent SM prices to more than a one-month high. On-specification production was achieved at both units last night. The cracker is currently operating at 50pc of capacity. LG Chem expects to resume full, normal operations at the cracker at the end of this month, while the SM unit should be able to reach full operations later this week.
