OMV prepares for Burghausen cracker expansion

26 September 2007 17:01  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--OMV will start expansion work at its Burghausen cracker in Germany for around six weeks on 2 October, a company source said on Wednesday.

The Austrian oil and gas group has a maintenance turnaround at its Burghausen refinery over that period.

Nameplate capacity for ethylene at the unit will be lifted by 100,000 tonnes/year to 450,000 tonnes/year, with restart planned for 17 November, the source added.

Borealis was planning to start up its new 330,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant, also in Burghausen in November.

A 240,000 tonne/year PP unit already at the site would be brought down for maintenance work for around five weeks in October/November.

In related cracker news, expansion work continued at BASF’s Antwerp unit, which will boast a new capacity of 1.08 m tonnes/year, up 280,000 tonnes/year.

A company source said on Wednesday that restart could face a minor delay, from its original early October date but further details would be given soon.

Further reports were heard from market sources of restart delays at BPRP’s Gelsenkirchen 3 cracker which had been due to restart around 18 September, but this was not confirmed at source.

Capacity at the site was due to be lifted by 100,000 tonnes/year to 540,000 tonnes/year.

By: Edward Cox
+44 20 8652 3214

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