Mexico's Pemex is planning to begin restarting propylene production at a pair of refineries next week as it brings key processing units back online, a company source said Friday.
Pemex will restart a fluid catalytic cracker next week at its Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca, which has been shut following a June 14 fire, the source said.
Pemex's Minatitlan refinery in Veracruz will see the first of two FCC units come back online August 5, the source said, adding that the second unit would be restarted August 12. The Minatitlan units had been offline for maintenance, the source previously said.
Pemex did not respond to repeated requests for official comment.
The Salina Cruz refinery on the Pacific Coast is the largest in Mexico and a major source of refinery-grade propylene, a key feedstock for the manufacture of polypropylene resin. Salina Cruz is also a major supplier of residual fuel oil across the US border to California.
The fire at Salina Cruz was the result of an oil spill reaching an ignition point in the wake of flooding from Tropical Storm Calvin, Pemex said earlier this month.
Previously, Pemex was supplying the market with chemical-grade monomer via the Minatitlan refinery while dealing with production issues at Salina Cruz, the company source said.
Pemex's crackers at Morelos and Cangrejera, meanwhile, were operating at normal rates and supplying the market with polymer-grade propylene, the source said.
Downstream, Mexican polypropylene producer Indelpro has not encountered any issues sourcing feedstock monomer, a company source previously said, adding that PP demand and sales have both been healthy.
Indelpro is the largest consumer of propylene in Mexico, sourcing the feedstock domestically through Pemex and via supplemental imports.
