|
MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF says its
420,000-metric ton/year steam cracker in Ludwigshafen, Germany is
continuously running and has not caused any interruption of supply to its
customers, according to a letter received by MRC from the company's press
office.
Earlier several media outlets reported that
unscheduled flaring started on 13
January at the northern part of the Ludwigshafen site and was expected to
last until 17 January and that an unspecified unit was shut, which "was not the
case", as per the company's letter.
BASF operates another steam
cracker at the northern part of Ludwigshafen with a capacity of 240,000 metric
tons/year. Crackers No. 1 and 2 mostly function independently of each
other. The two crackers process around 2 million metric tons/year of feedstock
naphtha.
As MRC informed earlier,
BASF has restarted its No. 1 steam cracker following a maintenance turnaround.
Thus, the company resumed operations at the plant on September 30, 2019. The
plant was shut for maintenance in mid-August, 2019. Located at Ludwigshafen in
Germany, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 235,000
mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.
Ethylene
and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and
reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the
greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia
increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months
of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase
in imports.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide
range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues,
electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic
chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical,
construction, textile and automotive industries. |
