Mexico's Braskem-Idesa has delayed the start up of its third polyethylene line at the Etileno XXI petrochemical complex due to a lack of ethane supplies, a company source said Thursday.
State Pemex won the bid in 2010 to provide ethane on a 20-year contract for the complex but it has yet not supplied the feedstock, the source added.
"The plant is up and ready to go, but whenever there is something new there will be issues, the source said. The line could be up as soon as two weeks as Pemex is expected to supply the ethane, he added.
The first line, a high-density polyethylene line, began operations April 6, and the second line came online April 28. Operations were to begin with injection grade HDPE followed by blowmolding HDPE.
The LDPE line was on track to start up on May 15.
Braskem-Idesa is a joint venture between Brazil's Braskem (75%) and Mexico's Grupo Idesa (25%).
Etileno XXI will focus on meeting Mexico's growing PE demand, with remaining output available for export, including to the US and South America.
Etileno XXI will have 1 million mt/year of polyethylene capacity.
