Japan's Toyo Engineering wins Tosoh cracker upgrade contract
28/11/2017 08:56
TOKYO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Toyo Engineering Corp
6330.T said on Tuesday it was awarded a project to construct a
naphtha cracking furnace at Tosoh Corp's 4042.T
ethylene-making facility in Yokkaichi city in central Japan.
The project will be completed in autumn 2019, it said.
Tosoh said in May that it plans to invest about 10 billion
yen ($90 million) to upgrade its 527,000-tonne-per-year naphtha
cracker by 2020. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1ID07K
The installation of a new large-scale furnace would not
change Tosoh's ethylene-making capacity, a spokesman said, but
added that it can produce the same amount of ethylene from less
volumes of feedstock naphtha.
"The installation of the furnace to be built next to the
cracker will not affect its operations during construction," the
spokesman said.
Japanese naphtha cracker operators have been shutting some
cracker facilities and cutting costs amid a shrinking domestic
market.
Tosoh has 14 existing furnaces that process naphtha. The new
large-scale furnace will replace two older small furnaces, while
the remaining furnaces will be renovated to improve efficiency.
The new furnace will start commercial operations after
conducting trial operations during the biannual maintenance
shutdown scheduled in spring 2020, the spokesman said.
($1 = 111.2800 yen)
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.)
((osamu.tsukimori@thomsonreuters.com, +813 6441 1857, Reuters
Messaging: osamu.tsukimori.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;))
Keywords: NAPHTHA TOSOH/TOYO ENG