SINGAPORE (Reuters) – South Korea’s SK Energy plans to restart the 170,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Ulsan refinery in next two weeks after maintenance work, three trade sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
It is unclear if the shutdown was planned, the sources said.
The unit was shut on Monday morning, consultancy WoodMackenzie said in a LinkedIn post.
The company’s March export programme for some refined fuels such as diesel is unlikely to be affected by this shutdown, two of the sources said, adding that the other CDUs at the site would likely run at higher rates to cover the production loss.
SK Energy has five CDUs at the refinery with a total capacity of 840,000 bpd.
The company plans to shut its two 40,000-bpd residue hydrodesulphurisation units at the site, one after another between mid-March and mid-May, a fourth source said.
The company’s 110,000-bpd CDU is also likely to be shut from end-May to end-June for scheduled maintenance, a fifth source said.
“SK Energy flexibly operates its plants based on market demand,” an official at SK Energy said on Wednesday in response to a Reuters query, without commenting on the units.
(Reporting by Trixie Yap, Siyi Liu in Singapore and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
