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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos Oxide, an Ineos
subsidiary, has declared force majeure on supplies of ethylene oxide (EO) from
its 280,000-metric tons/year plant in Cologne, Germany, reported Chemweek with reference to sources'
statement to OPIS Thursday.
"We heard about the Ineos ethylene oxide
force majeure earlier in the week," a market source said.
A declaration
of force majeure was extended to other parts of the site at Dormagen in Cologne,
including a 150,000-metric tons/year ethylene glycol (EG) plant, said other
chemical market sources and IHS Markit analysts. Customers have been allocated
50% of their contractual EG volumes for December and January delivery, according
to downstream sources.
Supplies of EG across Europe have tightened
significantly over the last week, according to IHS Markit research and analysis
associate director Lauren Zeiss. Inventory levels of EG are extremely low in
Europe following a series of planned turnarounds and unplanned outages in the
region, which started in September, said Zeiss.
As MRC informed before,
the Ineos-operated 660,000-metric tons/year phenol-acetone plant in Gladbeck,
Germany, was to restart by 10 December following planned maintenance. The
producer shut the plant down for maintenance on 27 October until 6 December,
according to the producer’s website. “They have not restarted yet, they should
come back in 2-3 days,” says one source. “They are starting up right now and
expect to be back online next week if all goes to plan,” the source said on 4
December. Ineos Phenol did not reply to a request on Monday seeking confirmation
of the restart date. Ineos produces 409,000 metric tons/year of acetone at the
Gladbeck site, according to IHS Markit data.
EO is primarily used as an
intermediate in the production of several industrial chemicals. Ineos uses a
large amount of the EO it produces to manufacture ethylene glycols, including
monoyethylene glycol (MEG), which, in its turn, is used to produce
polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimate PET consumption reached 59,310 tonnes in October 2020,
down by 8% year on year. Overall PET consumption in
Russia reached 589,580 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, down
by 20% year on year.
Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned
multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units,
headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst,
United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured
by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest
privately owned company in the United Kingdom. |
