Strike sees BP declare force majeure on Geel PTA

14 May 2008 12:18  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Europe’s largest purified terephthalic acid (PTA) producer BP has declared force majeure on supplies from its Geel plant in Belgium as a result of industrial action, a company source said on Wednesday.

"Force majeure was announced on Tuesday, 13 May on PTA as a result of a strike at the site. We have implemented a 40% allocation on PTA deliveries for May," said the source.

There was no clear indication of how long the disruption would last at the plant, which had a nameplate PTA capacity of 1m tonnes/year.

Force majeure was also in place on mixed xylenes supply at the site for the production of paraxylene (PX).

The issue comes hot on the heels of another PTA force majeure declared by Spain’s Interquisa after compressor problems brought down a production line in late April.

The unplanned outages come at a time when PTA demand is picking up, as the key seasonal polyethylene terephthalate (PET) enters the peak summer season.

The impact on PTA contract prices was still to be seen, with players typically settling business several months in arrears.

Pressure was however, clear from upstream costs following an initial May PX settlement up €38/tonne ($58/tonne) reported last week. Spot PX prices reached record highs in Europe on Tuesday.

($1 = €0.65)

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By: Edward Cox
+44 20 8652 3214

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