Schwechat power cut to cost Borealis €1.2m

22 July 2008 12:13  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Borealis will be hit by a €1.2m ($1.9m) loss as a result of a power cut which lead to a shutdown of its Schwechat site in Austria on 18 July, the company said on Tuesday.

The hour-long power cut, which happened at 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT), was caused by problems with the external electricity line which fed the whole plant during construction work on the grid. No substitute line was available.

The company said in a statement that in case of a power failure the production facilities have to evacuate all gases out of the units.

This initially caused some heavy flaring with some 120 tonnes of gas wasted, the company said.

“Immediate actions on Friday morning together with the grid provider enabled the local management to start up the plant during the weekend and today, all plants are running again,” Borealis said.

During the last four years the company has lost up to €4m due to increasing electricity interruptions of the external grid, the company added.

Philippe Roodhooft, Borealis vice president of polyolefins said that in addition to the substantial losses that it would incur for the company, the power cuts would increase carbon dioxide emissions into the air and the noise level in the community.

“We continually invest in reducing our impact on the environment and we expect the same philosophy from our suppliers,” said Roodhooft.

Borealis has a 350,000 tonne/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant and a 140,000 tonne/year low density PE (LDPE) unit at Schwechat, according to ICIS plants and projects.

It also has the capacity to produce 450,000 tonne/year of polypropylene (PP) at the site.

($1 = €0.63)

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By: Hilde Ovrebekk
+44 20 8652 3214

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