BPRP lifts propylene force majeure at PCK Schwedt refinery

17 March 2010 10:04  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--BP Refining & Petrochemicals (BPRP) on Wednesday lifted the propylene force majeure from its fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at the PCK Schwedt refinery in Germany, a company source said.

"After ramping up rates and reaching stable operations, we lifted the FM situation this morning," the source said.

The FCC, which has the capacity to produce 240,000 tonnes/year of propylene, according to the company source, had been restarted last week after shutting down on 2 March due to “vibrations in the expander unit of the FCC”.

Propylene force majeure was declared shortly after the shutdown.

Scheduled maintenance was expected to get under way from 7 April.

Propylene supply in Europe was tight. Reduced cracker and refinery operations and a number of planned and unplanned outages had been affecting output amid healthy derivative demand since the start of the year.

However, since crackers were generally running well at higher rates and the unplanned issues had now been resolved, the pressure on supply was not so intense, sources said.

The March propylene contract recently settled at €910/tonne ($1,246/tonne) FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).

Spot levels were being assessed in the mid-€900s/tonne CIF (cost insurance freight) NWE, according to global chemical market intelligence service ICIS pricing.

($1 = €0.73)

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