MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries NV has estimated damage costs at USD20 million to USD30 million from a fire earlier this month at two hydrocarbon tanks at its Berre cluster petrochemical plant near Marseilles, France, as per The Economics Times.
Lyondell said on a conference call discussing second-quarter 2015 earnings that the July 14 fires were under criminal investigation by authorities, precluding any comment on the exact cause of the fires or on the investigation.
French authorities said on July 15 that the fires were almost certainly started deliberately and that the incident was being treated as arson.
The company said previously that the fires were put out by midday on July 14 and that the facility was running under normal conditions.
The fires followed an incident in June in which a suspected Islamist beheaded his boss and tried to blow up an industrial gas plant in the suburbs of Lyon in France.
The Berre cluster includes a polyolefins complex consisting of a steam cracker, a butadiene extraction unit, and world-scale polypropylene and polyethylene plants, according to information on the company's website.
LyondellBasell Industries NV is a manufacturing company. The company produces chemicals, fuels, and polymers used for packaging, clean fuels, durable textiles, medical applications, construction materials, and automotive parts. LyondellBasell Industries operates globally and is headquartered in the Netherlands. LyondellBasell is also a leading licensor of polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. The more than 250 polyolefin process licenses granted by LyondellBasell are twice that of any other polyolefin technology licensor.
MRC