Technical hitch hits INEOS’s Cologne LDPE output

22 February 2008 10:29  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--INEOS Polyolefins’ low density polyethylene (LDPE) facility at Cologne, Germany, is running at reduced rates due to a technical incident on Tuesday, a company source confirmed on Friday.

 

Production at the line was expected to be down for three to four weeks.

 

INEOS was working to ensure customers would not be affected by the shutdown, it said, adding the company continued to supply LDPE from its second line at Cologne and the newly acquired facility at Bamble in Norway.

 

Safety systems at the plant had operated correctly and there were no injuries and no risk to the local community or environment, it said.

 

Tuesday’s incident involved a sudden release of pressure from one of the site’s LDPE plants, leading to the shutdown of one of the two lines.

 

The combined annual capacity of both lines is 400,000 tonnes.

 

INEOS notified the local authorities immediately and was currently carrying out a thorough in-house investigation into the incident, it said.

 

Polimeri Europa’s 200,000 tonne/year LDPE at Dunkerque in France was also out of action due to an outage at the site’s cracker last week.

 

Meanwhile, LDPE prices were firm in February after a hike of up to €70/tonne ($103/tonne) in January, trading in the mid-€1,300s/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe) on a gross basis according to global chemical intelligence service ICIS pricing.

  

($1 = €0.68)

 

For more on polyethylene see ICIS chemical intelligence

 

By: Linda Naylor
+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