By SHIKRALLAH NAKHOUL

BEIRUT -- Kuwait's Equate Petrochemical Co. said Friday it will shut down one of its ethylene glycol units for about six weeks after a fire earlier this week.

Equate, a joint venture mainly owned by Kuwait's state-run Petrochemical Industries Co. and US-based Dow Chemical, said in a statement that the unit has a total capacity of 550,000 tpy.

“Production operations of other units are unaffected and ongoing,” the statement said.

Equate operates a manufacturing facility that has annual production of over five million tons of petrochemical products, which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

PIC and Dow Chemical each own 42.5% of Equate. Local firms Boubyan Petrochemicals Co. and Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Co. hold stakes of 9% and 6%, respectively, according to Zawya.com data.

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