INEOS Grangemouth problems come to an end

29 August 2007 20:23  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--INEOS was no longer experiencing production issues at its Grangemouth olefins cracker in the UK after an unplanned shutdown in early August, a company source said on Wednesday.

The 725,000 tonne/year cracker experienced an unplanned shutdown at the beginning of August and came back on stream on 24 August. The shutdown affected the availability of ethylene and polyethylene (PE) from the site.

It was not clear whether a force majeure on ethylene from the site was still in place.

The company’s smaller 320,000 tonne/year cracker at the same site had previously started up after having suffered production problems since May.

PE production at Grangemouth was now also back to normal after output was reduced due to ethylene restraints.

INEOS’ 350,000 tonne/year C6 linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit and its 185,000 tonne/year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) units in the UK were also back to normal, a source said.

PE stocks would not be back to normal until production had run a full cycle, the source said.

PE prices were already firm in Europe due to restricted availability, strong demand and the lack of significant imported volumes.

By: Linda Naylor
+44 20 8652 3214

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