News & Insights

Maintenance at aromatics plant in Rotterdam in March-April-ExxonMobil

Published: March 20, 2021
Author: Manali bhanushali

MOSCOW (MRC) — ExxonMobil is to shut its aromatics plant in Rotterdam-Botlek, Netherlands, for a six-week maintenance in March-April 2021, according to Chemweek with reference to market sources.

This turnaround is part of a larger repairs program at ExxonMobil”s interconnected 191,000-b/d Botlek refinery and Rotterdam aromatics plant beginning in the first quarter.

The Rotterdam aromatics plant is one of the largest aromatics production facilities globally and produces pure aromatics such as benzene, ortho xylene, paraxylene (PX), and cyclohexane.

There are three benzene production units at the Botlek site. One has a capacity of 365,000 metric ton/year using reformate as feedstock. Another has a 300,000-metric tons/year capacity and uses pyrolysis gasoline as feedstock. The third is a 120,000-metric tons/year selective toluene disproportionation unit that produces benzene and PX via the use of toluene as a feedstock.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil”s latest operational shutdowns include polyethylene (PE) facilities amid power outages prompted by the deep freeze that has enveloped the US Gulf Coast. “This event has caused widespread power outages across Texas and Louisiana” Feb. 15,” the letter, dated Feb. 16, said. “As a consequence, several ExxonMobil Chemical operations have experienced loss of power and other key utilities, impacting our ability to resume full operations.” ExxonMobil operates three PE units in Mont Belvieu, Texas, with combined capacity of 880,000 mt/year, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Exxon is among many petrochemical producers that shut Feb. 14 and subsequent days because of sustained extreme sub-freezing temperatures in the region. ExxonMobil previously confirmed Feb. 16 that the company had shut all refining and chemical operations at its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, complexes. Ethylene produced at Baytown feeds the Mont Belvieu PE operations.

Benzene is a feedstock for the production of styrene monomer (SM), which, in its turn, is a feedstock for manufacturing polystyrene (PS).

An estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics in Russia rose by 12% year on year, totalling 45,640 tonnes. The approximate utilization expanded year on year for all PS grades.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world”s oil and about 2% of the world”s energy.

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