LyondellBasell declares force majeure on polyethylene

(ICIS) - -LyondellBasell declared force majeure on polyethylene (PE) following a power failure earlier in the week at its plant in Morris, Illinois, sources said Thursday. The power failure occurred on Sunday following high winds and lightning, according to a filing with the National Response Center. An ethylene storage tank was overloaded because of the power outage and was at risk of exploding, the report stated.

Depending on how long the outage lasts, producers might use the force majeure, and subsequent supply disruptions, to lend strength to a proposed 5 cent/lb (USD 110/tonne) price-increase nomination that most sources said rolled over from May to June. But one buyer suggested the outage will not last long and will have little to no impact on a fairly well supplied market.

The Morris plant includes a 549 KTa ethylene unit, a 295.4 KTa linear low density PE (LLDPE) unit and a 275 KTa low density PE (LDPE) unit, according to the ICIS plants and projects.

The cracker was also off line, a market source said, adding, however, that the outage was unlikely to impact the overall US ethylene market balance because monomer consumption at the site was captive.

MRC

(Reuters) -- Gazprom Neft's Moscow refinery is offloading oil products on schedule after putting out a fire at a power substation, a Gazprom Neft spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday. "The incident will not affect the offloading of oil products on the Moscow market. The loadings are on schedule," she said. Traders told Reuters that the refinery had stopped oil products loadings on Friday following the fire.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Chevron's 220.000 bbl/day UK refinery at Pembroke in Wales remains fully operational following an explosion and fire at the site which killed four workers, the company said on Friday. The blast happened at 18:20 local time (17:20GMT) on Thursday in a 730 cbm (cubic metre) storage tank while maintenance work was being carried out, local police said. "The refinery remains fully operational, however, we would emphasise that at this difficult time, our main priority is the welfare of our employees," Chevron said in a statement.

Police and the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are jointly investigating the cause of the explosion, however early indications suggest it was a "tragic industrial accident", Chief Superintendent Gwyn Thomas, of Dyfed Powys Police, said. A fifth contract worker is being treated in hospital for serious injuries sustained in the blast, which also damaged an adjacent storage tank.

Chevron has agreed to sell the refinery to US-based Valero for USD 730m (EUR 504m). The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Valero said on Thursday it was too early to know what effects, if any, the incident will have on the sale.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Malaysia's Johor state government has accepted plans to set up a petrochemical plant by a Taiwan-based petrochemical company previously rejected at home over environmental concerns. Protesters in Malaysia debate about the standard of the country's Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) methodology vis a vis Taiwanese standards. The country's Pasir Gudang and Pontian local councils had reportedly approved the project despite having no formal application.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In June, European producers decreased export prices for linear polyethylene (LLDPE) on average by EUR 50-70/mt under the pressure of declined contract prices for ethylene, according to ICIS-MRC Price Report.

In May, some European producers decreased prices for linear polyethylene for the domestic market. Export prices remained without changes, except for butene grades of LLDPE. In June, after cheapening of ethylene from European producers, export prices for polyethylene significantly decreased.

The level of export prices for hexane linear polyethylene in June fell on average by EUR 50-70/mt. Export prices for butene LLDPE were corrected yet in the second half of May. In June, the price kept on decreasing. In comparison to May, the level of prices for butene linear polyethylene fell by EUR 70 - 120/mt.

MRC