Saudi petchems firm Sipchem announced 22 March that it was immediately commencing “scheduled maintenance” at its Al Waha propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) complex. The maintenance had been intended to begin 1 April. The shift was due to an unexpected outage at the plant’s PDH unit from 3 March and avoids the need to shut the plant down again, Sipchem says, adding that maintenance will be complete by the end of March. Sipchem’s Al Waha complex comprises a 468,000 t/y PDH unit, processing propane to manufacture propylene feedstock for a linked 450,000 t/y PP unit.
Sipchem operates two polyolefins complexes less than 7km apart within the Jubail Industrial City on the Saudi Gulf coast (MEES, 7 December 2018). (CONTINUED - 116 WORDS)