DATE : 2014-10-09
Shell has declared force majeure on styrene following an incident at the company's Moerdijk, Netherlands steam cracker last week. "On 2 October, an unforeseen breakdown in the utilities systems at the manufacturing plant at Moerdijk took place," the company says. "All units have been shut down. Our current expectation is it will take a few weeks to complete the assessment on the duration of the impact. However, it is currently expected that most units will not be back in operation before the end of 2014." Market sources report that a force majeure letter was issued to Shell styrene customers yesterday and say they understand that a product allocation rate of 100% will be reviewed in November.
The propylene oxide-styrene monomer unit of Shell's Ellba joint venture with BASF at Moerdijk had already been offstream since an explosion in June but an initial spike in spot prices at that time was not sustained because a combination of imports and length within the European system prevented a severe tightening in supply.
SOURCE Chemweek's Daily Business