Another force majeure on PP in Europe: PP prices could rise amid supply crunch

25-May-10

LyondellBasell has declared force majeure on polypropylene (PP) from its Polish JV. The joint venture Basell Orlen Polyolefins (BOP) has capacity to produce 400,000 tpa of PP and is located in Plock, Poland. As reported in ICIS, the company said that “as a result of unforeseeable technical production problems due to low polymerisation in the Plock PP plant, it was unable to supply PP grades from Plock.” No time frame has been declared for the supply restrictions. This supply crunch will lead to a supply crunch along with a PP force majeure announced by Total Petrochemicals. Propylene avails have been restricted by a force majeure announced by BP Refining and Petrochemicals (BPRP) from its PCK Schwedt, Germany, and Nerefco Rotterdam, Netherlands refineries.