Wanhua Chemical to Extend Yantai Cracker Maintenance, Source Says — OPIS

China's Wanhua Chemical plans to extend the maintenance period at its No. 2 cracker in Yantai by another 10 days, with a restart expected in late May, according to a company source.

The cracker was initially taken offline in early May for around 10 days due to technical issues, but the shutdown has now been extended to around 20 days in total.

"Repair works still need more time," the source said. The unit was running at an operating rate of around 70% before being taken offline; the planned run rate after the restart could not be confirmed.

The cracker at the Yantai Industrial site has an ethylene production capacity of 1.2 million metric tons per year. At the same site, Wanhua also operates its No. 1 cracker with a capacity of 1 million mt/year, which was retrofitted to switch from propane to ethane feedstock, as well as a 750,000 mt/year propane dehydrogenation unit.

At the company's Penglai Industrial site, its 900,000 mt/year PDH unit and its 600,000 mt/year propylene oxide via cumene hydroperoxide unit have been offline for maintenance since April 26, with a restart slated for late May, OPIS reported earlier.

Analysts noted that the maintenance at Wanhua's No. 2 Yantai cracker comes at a time when arbitrage economics for moving naphtha cargoes into Asia have closed, with the East-West spread -- the price differential between CFR Japan cargoes and CIF Northwest Europe cargoes -- narrowing since May.

"Cash premiums have dropped a lot, so producers would rather move cargoes to Europe than bring them over to Asia," an analyst said.

OPIS assessed the East-West spread at $55/mt on Tuesday, down from the low-$60s/mt range at the start of April.

The CFR Japan naphtha flat price was assessed at $992.50/mt on Tuesday, down $5/mt from the day before, OPIS assessments show.

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

May 20, 2026 02:12 ET (06:12 GMT)