Dow Chemical attempts to restart Terneuzen cracker

11 May 2011 11:42  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Dow Chemical is in the process of restarting its No 1 cracker at Terneuzen, the Netherlands, following planned maintenance, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.

Planned maintenance started around 11 March and the cracker was originally expected to be back on line in early May. An attempt to restart the cracker over the 29 April–1 May weekend failed because an unspecified problem led to necessary repair work.

The cracker, which has the capacity to produce 580,000 tonnes/year of ethylene (C2), is one of three that Dow Chemical operates at its Terneuzen site.

A successful restart of Dow's Terneuzen cracker will provide some supply relief to both the European C2 and propylene (C3) markets, which are currently affected by scheduled maintenance projects and an unplanned outage at INEOS’s No 5 cracker at Dormagen, near Cologne, in Germany.

Market sources have speculated that there are also some difficulties at Dow's cracker at Tarragona, Spain. The source close to Dow was not able to comment on that cracker's status.

The Tarragona cracker has the capacity to produce 660,000 tonnes/year of C2, according to ICIS data.

($1 = €0.69)

For more on ethylene and propylene, visit ICIS chemical intelligence
For more on Dow Chemical and INEOS, visit ICIS company intelligence
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By: Nel Weddle
+44 20 8652 3214

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