ESSO Suspends Paraxylene Production in Sriracha from April as Production in 2020 Declines

Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited (ESSO) announced the company will suspend Paraxylene production from Aromatics plant at Esso Sriracha refinery from April 2021 as ESSO has been evaluating ways to optimize its Operations and Supply Chain across both of Fuel and Chemicals value chains.

 

Additionally, ESSO will continue to produce and supply essential fuels and chemicals solvents to the community and country and will continue to evaluate its Paraxylene operations and supply chain on a periodic basis to remain a reliable and committed supplier to its customers.

 

Nevertheless, the company did not specify the resume date of its Sriracha refinery.

 

ESSO‘s paraxylene production in 2020 was cut to 200 Ktons, which was 81 Ktons lower than 2019 production as industry margins remained weak due to the regional oversupply situation.

In 2020, the Downstream segment made a loss from sales of 8,327 million baht, which was 5,733 million baht lower than last year, mainly due to unfavorable inventory effects and lower industry margins. The petrochemical segment made a loss from sales of 1,626 million baht, compared to a loss of 1,512 million baht in 2019, reflecting continued weak paraxylene margins.

The Paraxylene Asian Contract Price (ACP) in the fourth quarter of 2020 was $560/Ton, a decrease of $241/Ton compared to the same period last year, but an increase of $14/Ton from the previous quarter as a result of temporary tight supply caused by paraxylene plants in the region under maintenance shutdown.