Full output at BASF Ludwigshafen crackers set for midweek

19 March 2004 20:14  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--BASF's two crackers at Ludwigshafen, Germany will be restarted over the weekend but are unlikely to resume full operation for several days, a spokeswoman for the German chemicals group said Friday.

She confirmed that BASF has declared force majeure on supplies of ethylene following the power outage on Wednesday which forced closure of the crackers and disrupted production at most other units at the giant Ludwigshafen complex.

The spokeswoman said force majeure had not been declared on any other products.

An official report from BASF on Thursday that the two steam crackers were being restarted had proved premature, the spokeswoman admitted. The crackers have capacities of about 410 000 tonne/year and 210 000 tonne/year.

Although only ethylene is subject to force majeure, the power outage has caused serious problems in the styrene chain, according to a senior market source in Germany. He said the approximately 500 000 tonne/year styrene plant at Ludwigshafen had yet to restart and downstream plants were affected.

By: Neil Sinclair
+44 20 8652 3214

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