Europe benzene, styrene tighten, climb $20-45/t

11 February 2008 12:42  [Source: ICIS news]

By Peter Salisbury

LONDON (ICIS news)--Early European benzene and styrene indications were up as much as $45/tonne (€31/tonne) from the previous close on production issues, increasing energy complex values and perceived tightness of supply, market players said on Monday.

“Energy in the US, tightness in February benzene and styrene are all pushing things up,” a trade source said. “People are worried about shutdowns in February, March and April, so there’s a lot more buying interest.”

Spot benzene for February was valued at $1,170-1,190 CIF (cost, insurance and freight) ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp), at 11:15 GMT, up $40-45/tonne from the previous close.

Downstream styrene was up $20-30/tonne to $1,440-1,460/tonne FOB (free on board) Rotterdam.

A styrene deal was reported, industry to industry, at $1,430/tonne FOB Rotterdam, $10/higher than the last reported deal and $23/tonne higher than the previous week’s highest confirmed deal.

Alongside rumoured cracker problems at several European sites during January and early February, Spanish energy major Cepsa planned to close one of its benzene units at Huelva, Spain, for 21 days in February.

BASF’s Antwerp styrene facility continues to experience production issues, meanwhile, and the plant was scheduled to have a planned outage in March.

LyondellBasell, meanwhile, was expected to shut down its 640,000 tone/year styrene monomer plant at Maasvlakte, the Netherlands, in March, with industry sources saying the outage could last as long as six weeks.

A $3/bbl climb in crude oil values on Friday was also cited as a major contributing factor, although both WTI and Brent values fell by $0.04/bbl and $0.23/bbl on Monday morning.

Sources said that energy complex values did not play the role many attributed to them, however.

“It’s nothing to do with crude,” said an industry source. “It’s production issues – there were cracker problems in January, and we are seeing tightness on benzene alongside strong styrene demand, which has built up a lot of momentum in the market.”

($1 = €0.69)

For more on styrene and benzene visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: Peter Salisbury
+44 20 8652 3214

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