9 month delay in regular shipment of US ethane to Borealis Europe unlikely to impact operations

26-Aug-16

Borealis crackers in Europe originally expected to receive its first shipment at the end of 2016. The schedule for regular shipments of ethane from the US to Borealis' crackers in Europe has been delayed nine months, company CEO Mark Garrett has been reported by Platts. The delay is on the supplier's end and it will not adversely impact Borealis' European operations.
Borealis plans to import 240,000 mt/year of US ethane for its crackers in Europe, taking advantage of a supply source created by the US' shale gas revolution. In August 2014, Borealis signed a 10-year deal to buy ethane from US company Antero Resources for cracking in its European crackers. The gas would be sourced from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
Antero said at the time that the deal was related to a 10-year transportation, terminal and storage agreement it had inked with Sunoco Logistics Partners that would allow it to ship ethane, propane and butane via the Mariner East II pipeline project to Sunoco's Marcus Hook terminal in Pennsylvania. Sunoco's current timeline for Mariner East II targets operation starting H1-2017, according to the company's website.

Borealis' 625,000 m tpa ethylene capacity cracker in Stenungsund, Sweden, and 400,000 m tpa cracker in Porvoo, Finland, are both able to process a mix of feedstocks including liquids, LPG and ethane. The company has signed a shipping agreement with Navigator Holdings, a liquefied gas logistics company, to transport ethane from Marcus Hook to Sweden.