Lukoil Neftochim to keep Bulgaria petrochemical site mothballed

25 February 2011 15:46  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS)--Lukoil Neftochim has no plans to restart its mothballed petrochemical division at Burgas, Bulgaria, a management source said on Friday.

Although Russian parent company Lukoil last year restarted the 80,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) unit at Burgas, there were no plans to reopen the other plants, the source said.

Lukoil Neftochim’s plants, which are located near the Black Sea and include a 150,000 tonne/year ethylene cracker and an 85,000 tonne/year low density polyethylene (LDPE) facility, were closed in 2009 due to poor market conditions caused by the global economic downturn.

Last September, Lukoil said the petrochemical division could be shut for good because “the existing technological scheme of petrochemical production at the Burgas refinery in Bulgaria doesn’t allow for it to be made profitable”.

However, in November it said that plans were in hand to reopen the PP unit as well as some other units.

Lukoil’s office in Moscow was not immediately available for comment on Lukoil Neftochim’s petrochemical division.

Other plants in the division include an 80,000 tonne/year ethylene oxide (EO) plant, a 100,000 tonne/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant and a 10,000 tonne/year ethanolamines unit.

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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