Petrochemical makers across Asia, including Malaysia, hit by weak margins

Cracker throughput at Malaysia-based Titan(pic), owned by South Korea's Lotte Chemical, and Singapore PCS is also down to 90% from full capacity.

SINGAPORE: Asian petrochemical makers, who are unable to pass down sky-high feedstock costs, are resorting to run cuts or extending cracker shutdown periods to tie through the bad times.

The gloom was evident across South Korea, Asia's top naphtha importer, as well as Southeast Asia as crude-derived naphtha premiums were recently either setting new records or were near record levels because of a supply crunch following drone attacks on Saudi oilfields in mid September and heavy refinery maintenance.