S Arabia’s SABIC to shut 700,000 tonne/year MTBE plant in February

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Saudi Arabia’s SABIC plans to shut its 700,000 tonne/year methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) plant at at Al-Jubail in Saudi Arabia from February to March, several market players said on Wednesday. 

The plant is expected to be shut for around one month, they said. 

This turnaround is unexpected to have an impact on spot supply as the company is largely covered on a contractual basis, they added.

The company has three MTBE plants at Al Jubail, with the other two having capacities of 300,000 tonnes/year and 1m tonnes/year. It is unclear if the will be shut for turnarounds in tandem with the 700,000 tonnes/year plant.