Versalis to restart Porto Marghera steam cracker in February

15-Dec-14

Italian petrochemical company Versalis is to restart its 490,000 tpa steam cracker at Porto Marghera, Italy, in February to cover a shortfall of ethylene in northern Europe, as per a CGIL Union source in Platts. There had been talk that Shell, whose 900,000 tpa Moerdijk cracker in the Netherlands was closed October after a leak, had asked Versalis to restart the plant. The Porto Marghera cracker was shut in February for what was supposed to be six months, with the company citing a downturn in the market. In August, Versalis announced plans to permanently shut the unit, converting the site into an environmentally friendly hub as part of a Eur200 mln project expected to be operational in three years' time. A Shell spokesman, declining to comment on Porto Marghera specifically, said: "We are committed to continue supply to Moerdijk customers where feasible, and this includes sourcing products from third parties and other production locations". Production of ethylene and propylene at Moerdijk will start before the end of the second quarter of next year, while production of propylene oxide, styrene monomer, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycols will have resumed by the end of 2014, Shell said.