Zhenhua Petrochemical's 750,000 t/y PDH plant entered the trial production by the end of July, but has not yet produced qualified products.
Yatong Petrochemical had stopped selling propane in May to build up feedstock for Zhenhua Petrochemical's PDH plant. The propane production of Yatong Petrochemical is 300 tonnes per day, while the demand from Zhenhua Petrochemical is over 2,500 tonnes per day, so a large amount of goods needs to be purchased from other suppliers.
It is learned that Zhenhua Petrochemical plans to run a 50% operating rate in August, and may ramp up the production given proper imported propane prices.
However, the August contract price for propane was increased by $10/t to $590/t, equivalent to an import cost of Yuan 5,228/t. Moreover, the production resumption of Ningbo Kingfa, Jiangsu Ruiheng and Formosa Chemicals Ningbo in August will be offset by the overhaul of Tianjin Bohua, Wanhua Chemical and Liaoning Kingfa. Therefore, it is expected that China's PDH operating rates will fluctuate around 71-75% in August, from an average of 75.24% in July.
Source: OilChem
By press time, China's PDH operating capacities have increased to 21.52 million t/y. Among them, the new capacities in 2024 are mainly concentrated in East China and Shandong, accounting for 47.49% and 30.67% of the total respectively. In addition to Zhenhua Petrochemical, Quanzhou Guoheng's 660,000 t/y PDH plant and Wanhua Chemicals' 900,000 t/y PDH plant will come on stream in the second half of 2024, which will bring the domestic total PDH capacities to over 23 million t/y.
Source: OilChem
With the support of China's carbon neutrality goals and environmental policies, the PDH production capacities have been expanding in recent years, and the new capacities are expected to exceed 3 million t/y over 2024-2027. But after that, the fierce competition and meager profits will slow down the commissioning of PDH plants.
Written by Sunny Fang, fss@oilchem.net
Edited by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
