DATE : 2014-03-20
Dow Chemical’s butadiene (BD) unit at Boehlen in Germany is running at reduced rates because of technical issues, a company source said on Thursday.
The issue, which was undisclosed, started to impact operations today.
“[The issue] is clear, its fixable and simple,” the source said, adding that rates would be reduced for around a week.
The unit, which has a nameplate capacity of 105,000 tonnes of BD a year, experienced a separate issue two weeks ago which had been resolved.
The company has not declared force majeure.
This latest production constraint comes as European BD supply is already tight with two forces majeures in place and a planned maintenance turnaround underway.
Additionally, there is talk of of technical problems at another European unit, but details are sketchy and have not been confirmed.
SOURCE Icis News