China's Wanhua Chemical to Shut Penglai Units for Maintenance — OPIS

Wanhua Chemical is planning to shut petrochemical units at its Penglai Industrial Park for 30 days of maintenance starting Sunday, according to a company letter dated April 23 and seen by OPIS.

The units scheduled for the shutdown include a 900,000 metric tons per year propane dehydrogenation or PDH unit and a 600,000 mt/year propylene oxide via cumene hydroperoxide unit.

Wanhua said the shutdown is part of annual scheduled maintenance to ensure smooth production operations, adding that it does not expect a significant impact on overall production and operations.

The maintenance comes shortly after Wanhua resumed operations at its 750,000mt/year PDH unit at its Yantai Industrial Park. The unit was taken offline in late March and restarted earlier this week.

OPIS earlier reported that PDH operating rates across China are estimated to fall to 55% in April, as many plants go offline due to difficulties securing feedstock amid the Middle East conflict.

Some analysts noted that Chinese firms operating multiple petrochemical sites -- including Wanhua -- may be unable to keep all units running simultaneously.

"Downstream demand is sluggish, and feedstock is hard to secure. Many of these companies may choose to alternate operations between sites," a Chinese source said.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Cheryl Lee, clee@opisnet.com ; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 24, 2026 03:46 ET (07:46 GMT)