INEOS Phenol resumes production at Gladbeck, Germany

17 May 2012 10:37  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--INEOS Phenol has resumed production of phenol and acetone in Gladbeck, Germany, following planned maintenance, market sources said on Thursday.

“The plant restarted and is running well,” one source said.

The Gladbeck plant, which has the capacity to produce 650,000 tonnes/year of phenol and 395,000 tonnes/year of acetone, went into planned maintenance on 16 April.

Despite the Gladbeck outage, both the phenol and acetone markets have been in a balanced rather than tight position, according to buyers, although European producers have all declared that they are in a tight position.

Export opportunities to Asia for both materials have been non-existent because of falling Asian prices and weak demand which has prevented supply problems in the European domestic market since previously earmarked material for the Asian market has stayed in the region.

In addition, demand for a number of downstream markets has eased, particularly phenol for nylon intermediates and bisphenol A (BPA) for epoxy resin production.

($1 = €0.79)

By: Julia Meehan
+44 20 8652 3214

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly