NewsFlashTotal Gonfreville, France cracker down

08 September 2006 11:57  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Total Petrochemical’s Gonfreville cracker in France has been forced to close but was expected to be restarted over the weekend (9/10 September), a company source said on Friday.

The 520,000 tonnes/year cracker tripped last weekend (2/3 September) for reasons which were undisclosed.

This unplanned outage comes at a time when supply is already constrained due to an extensive cracker shutdown schedule as well as production problems at Shell’s Wesseling, Germany crackers.

Spot ethylene (C2) and propylene (C3) prices have soared above third quarter contract levels as a result of the ongoing tight supply and demand balance.

Ethylene spot prices were assessed  at $1,400/tonne (around €1,100/tonne) CIF (cost, insurance and freight) Northwest Europe by global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing. Third quarter ethylene contract prices were settled at €900/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE.

Propylene spot prices have soared to record highs in excess of €1,000/tonne CIF NWE. Third quarter contracts were settled at €830/tonne FD NWE.

By: Nel Weddle
+44 20 8652 3214

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly