Poland's Synthos shuts petrochemical complex at Kralupy as Vltava floods

05-Jun-13

Polish chemical producer Synthos has begun an emergency shutdown of all units at its petrochemical complex in Kralupy, Czech Republic due to extreme flooding by the Vltava river, as per Platts. The Czech capital Prague was on high flood alert Monday as the Vltava river rose, flooding parts of the historic city center, according to AFP. "We are closing production of all units one by one today, so as to do it as smoothly as possible, due to the crisis situation with flooding," said a company source. "The river going through Kralupy is overflowing and the depth of the water is extremely high. The power plant is flooded with water, so there is no steam." The units affected include a 170,000 m tpa styrene monomer plant, a 30,000 m tpa GPPS plant, a 50,000 m tpa HIPS plant, a 80,000 m tpa polybutadiene plant, a 90,000 m tpa butadiene plant, a 160,000 cu m tpa XPS plant, a 90,000 m tpa SBR plant and a 80,000 m tpa NDBR plant. Synthos is considering declaring force majeure on all styrenics products on Tuesday, the source added, but this remains unconfirmed Monday.