"Startup needs three days ... all the teams are watching carefully because this is quite a crucial point, to balance natural gas, and to make sure all the items, equipment, are ready," the source said.
The company aims to start it up fully by this weekend. The 660,000 mt/year plant has been undergoing a planned 40-day turnaround, which started on October 4.
Some major equipment has been replaced including pipes in the methanol process unit. Several unplanned shutdowns were caused by a leak in the pipe, which is located in a high pressure area and can only be changed with the plant shut completely.
"Hopefully all will be smooth," the source said. "The fastest is five days to reach 100%, and then hopefully everything will be normal, so we can reach our maximum production rate of up to 109%."
The source added that the company is hoping to restart as soon as possible in view of current prices. On Wednesday, Platts assessed the Southeast Asia price of methanol on a CFR basis at $383-385/mt, and the CFR China price at $399-401/mt.
Kaltim is a joint venture by Japanese trading house Sojitz Corp. (85%), Indonesia's Humpuss Trading Co. (10%) and Japan's Daicel Chemical Industries (5%).
