Rompetrol Petrochemicals resume operations at HDPE, LDPE plants

21-Feb-09

Rompetrol Petrochemicals, the petrochemical division of The Rompetrol Group (Romania), has announced that it will resume operations of its High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) installations, both of which have combined capacity of 60,000 tpa. "The production of polymers of the company will get back to normal as of Friday, and the remaining personnel who were temporarily laid off will be recalled to resume their activities" declared Dumitru Niculi, CEO of Rompetrol Petrochemicals. Amid the domestic and global economic slowdown, the company decided to provisionally wind down LDPE and HDPE installations during November last year, in order to streamline production with the low demand of polymers and avoid overcapacity. This decision led to a lay-off of 24% of the company employees on a temporary basis. Following the restart, the group will assess the economic and financial situation of Rompetrol Petrochemicals and the specialized markets that are catered by the division. On a more optimistic note, the group has strongly called for development of new distribution routes, consolidation of relations with traditional partners, as well as continuation of the cost monitoring/reduction program. In 1996, the Romanian group began conservation in 1996 dearth ethylene. In order to modernize and restart them and to build a liquefied gas sea terminal, Rompetrol Petrochemicals allocated over US$30 mln in 2006 (LDPE) and over US$14.5 mln in 2007 (HDPE).