US ethylene margins gain 2% on higher spot prices

US ethylene spot margins remained on an uptrend last week, lifted by higher spot prices and mostly steady feedstock costs, the ICIS margin report showed on Monday.

Using ethane as a feedstock, margins were at 35.45 cents/lb ($782/tonne, €547/tonne) in the week ended 10 June, up from 34.72 cents/lb a week earlier.

The 2% increased followed higher spot prices last week, as ethylene for June traded at 65.00-67.50 cents/lb, rising from deals done at 64.500-65.125 cents/lb in the week ended 3 June.

Market sources cited an outage at the Williams cracker in Geismar, Louisiana, early last week, as one of the reasons for the increase in spot prices.

The 612,000 tonne/year unit went down following a power outage on 4 June, the company said.

Williams restarted the cracker on 9 June, a spokesperson said, adding that the unit was expected to be running at full rates within one week.

Ethylene bids and offers for June were wide apart on Monday at 65-69 cents/lb.

Meanwhile, ethane prices were slightly lower at 76.00-76.75 cents/gal, pressured by a new drop in crude oil prices.

Mont Belvieu ethane ended Friday at 77 cents/gal.