French strikes shut down Lavera, Feyzin crackers – sources

LONDON (ICIS)–The ongoing refinery and transport workers strikes in France have led to the closure of both the Lavera and Feyzin crackers, some sources said on Thursday.

The closures have not been confirmed by the companies in question.

Earlier this week, sources were reporting patchy impact on petrochemicals production in general, crackers were running but at reduced rates and force majeures had been issued.

However, as the extent of the strikes has intensified, so too have the difficulties in obtaining sufficient feedstock.

Sources close to LyondellBasell’s Berre site have said that the situation was being managed to the extent that the cracker there was still running, but the current status of the remaining French crackers remains unclear.

Versalis confirmed earlier in the week that the situation was being managed at its Dunkirk site, aside from some logistical impacts, but further information was so far unavailable.

Given that the Gonfreville refinery has been completely offline since last Friday, many asssume that the cracker is fully down, while the reverse is assumed for the Gravenchon cracker with the associated refinery reported to be running normally.

In the case of the former, Total declared force majeure on orthoxylene (OX) as long ago as 17 May and other force majeure declarations have been made on polymer supply from that site.

Innovyn declared force majeure on some of its products from its Tavaux site on 24 May because of the difficulties at Feyzin.

INEOS confirmed yesterday that it had declared force majeure on polypropylene and high density polyethylene (HDPE) production from its French sites – Lavera and Sarralbe.

Crackers in France:

* tonnes/year, according to ICIS data

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