Singapore (Platts)--4Jul2012/623 am EDT/1023 GMT

The shutdown of Bangchak Petroleum's 120,000 b/d refinery in Bangkok, Thailand, after a fire Wednesday morning is expected to have little impact on the Asian LPG spot market, company officials and other Bangkok-based sources said Wednesday.

"As far as I know, there is very little [LPG] that comes out of the refinery ... I think [LPG output] is about 1% of the nameplate capacity," said a spokesman from Bangchak Petroleum.

Separately, the company's vice president for finance, Ninthira Abhising, told Platts: "There is very little LPG that we produce at the refinery. I reckon it's not more than 4,000 mt [each month], and although we used to sell it to the wholesale [domestic] market when the prices were high, recently, with prices having fallen so much, we have been using it in our system."

The ratio of propane and butane produced by the refinery is not known.

Article continues below...

Request a free trial of: Asian Petrochemicalscan
	Asian Petrochemicalscan provides weekly market updates, commentary and assessments ranging from naphtha feedstocks to aromatics, olefins, and polymers in Southeast Asia, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

One source at a Thai petrochemical maker said: "We would buy some spot [pressurized] product from them ... one or two cargoes per month; then we also take some product via lorries [from Bangchak].

"It's a small amount and if we can't get it from them, well, then it's an impact alright -- for us. But we may decide to buy from PTT. But as a market overall, it's insignificant."

Bangchak Petroleum shut its entire refinery following a fire at a kerosene stripper in its 80,000 b/d No. 2 crude distillation unit. The company plans to restart the unaffected 40,000 b/d No. 3 CDU and a 25,000 b/d hydrocracker a week later, but will keep the rest of the refinery shut -- including the No. 2 CDU -- for 30 days, a spokeswoman told Platts earlier.

--Rajesh Nair, rajesh_nair@platts.com
--Edited by Deepa Vijiyasingam, deepa_vijiyasingam@platts.com

Tweet