Demerger stalls Celanese Euro acetic acid unit

06 January 1999 16:23  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--Celanese said Wednesday that its plans to build a new acetic acid plant in Europe are "on hold" until the company's spin-off from parent company Hoechst has been completed.

Once the demerger is finalised, Celanese will begin putting a definitive timetable in place, a spokesman told CNI. "We're (still) in the preliminary mode of identifying a site," he said. "There's no target date set." The plant would have a capacity of around 500 000 - 600 000 tonne/year.

The split between Celanese and Hoechst is likely to take effect around the end of June, following shareholder approval on 4 May.

Celanese also revealed that it is to close its 180 000 tonne/year acetic acid plant at its Frankfurt, Germany site by the end of 1999, with production slowing down in the middle of the year. It is closing the plant in anticipation of the start-up in July 2000 of a new facility in Singapore, and because of over-capacity in the market and the Asian crisis. Around 30 employees will be affected, all of whom will be transferred to other plants at the site.

The spokesman said it is currently "undetermined" whether the Knapsack, Germany plant will close as well. John O'Dwyer, Celanese's acetic acid business manager told CNI in September that new European plant would eventually replace both the Frankfurt and the Knapsack plants. Celanese produces 70 000 tonne/year of acetic acid, plus acidic anhydride at Knapsack.

By: Anna Williams
+44 208 652 3214

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