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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is planning to
restart its 300,000-metric ton/year toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant in
Ludwigshafen, Germany, by the end of October, according to sources. The company
declared force majeure on 31 August after experiencing technical problems, it
stated at the time, said Chemweek.
BASF has tried to restart the plant since then, but its efforts were
unsuccessful. “They will make another restart attempt in two to three days,”
says a market source. The company had planned three months of maintenance at the
TDI plant this year, but postponed it to March 2021, citing the impact of
COVID-19 as the main reason, the sources say. “The force majeure at our TDI
plant in Ludwigshafen is still in place,” a BASF spokeswoman tells OPIS.
The force majeure at Ludwigshafen has exacerbated tightness in the global TDI
market, according to James Elliott, principal analyst/polyurethane feedstocks at
IHS Markit. This has not only been driven by supply-side issues but also demand
has been particularly strong during the third quarter. Early indications for the
fourth quarter are that offtake continues to strengthen, says Elliott.
BASF started operations at the Ludwigshafen TDI plant in November 2015 after
investing more than ˆ1 billion ($1.17 billion) to build it. Since then, it has
not consistently operated at optimal rates at the site, encountering different
production and technical issues which have caused delays and shutdowns,
according to Elliott. The company stopped producing TDI at its 80,000-metric
tons/year Schwarzheide facility, based in southern Germany, in April this
year.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns led to a collapse in TDI
demand during the second quarter as consumer spending on flexible polyurethane
foam goods dropped, with total European demand plunging as much as 80% in April.
Flexible polyurethane foam is mainly used in mattresses and furniture in western
Europe.
BASF is due to release third-quarter results on 28 October 2020
and full-year results on 26 February 2021.
As MRC reported
earlier, COVID-19 occurred at an already challenging time for the
petrochemical industry and has required it to take some drastic actions, said
the leaders of the world�s two biggest chemical companies, BASF and Dow, on
Monday at the 54th European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) annual meeting,
which is taking place in a virtual format. The pandemic has also accelerated key
industry trends, particularly those around sustainability and the environment,
they said.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and
polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven
months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)
accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP
production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to
1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the
output. |
