RELEASED ON 09/05/13 (DD/YY/MM)

BASF PETRONAS Chemicals has declared a force majeure (FM) on its oxo-alcohol and acrylate acid and esters plants at Gebang industrial zone in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia, on Thursday afternoon, citing lack of feedstock propylene supply, a company source said.

The company received a similar force majeure notice from its key propylene supplier, the source said. “We are currently unable to ascertain the length of the FM, but we will update in a week's time,” the source said. The FM applies to 11 propylene-based products that the company produces, the source said.

BASF PETRONAS has an oxo-alcohols facility with a nameplate capacity at 240,000 tonne/year, that is able to produce about 160,000 tonne/year of n-butanol (NBA) and 80,000 tonne/year of 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH).
The company also produces 25,000 tonnes/year of iso-butanol, 100,000 tonnes/year of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) and isobutyl aldehyde, according to ICIS data. Side products of the oxoalcohol manufacturing processes such as Oxo oil 800 and Oxo oil 840 are also affected, the source said.

BASF-PETRONAS also produces 160,000 tonnes/year of crude acrylic acid; 75,000 tonnes/year glacial acrylic acid; 100,000 tonnes/year of butyl acrylate (butyl-A) unit; and 60,000 tonnes/year of 2-ethyhexyl acrlyate (2EH-A).  

SOURCE Icis News