01 June 2012 10:41  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Shell Chemicals has declared force majeure on butadiene (BD) production from its site at Moerdijk in the Netherlands, the company said on Friday.

The producer declared force majeure on 23 May, explaining in its statement that: “Due to unavailability of the butadiene tank at Moerdijk, Shell Chemicals Europe will not be able to meet its supply obligations for butadiene.

“The product is still contained within the tank and there has been no release of product. The manufacturing teams have completed a full HSSE [health and safety]assessment and concluded that at no time has there been or is there a threat to the environment or personal safety.”

The statement said that repairs are ongoing, and no estimate of a restart date was provided.

Shell’s BD plant at Moerdijk has a nameplate production capacity of 115,000 tonnes/year, according to ICIS data.