Two major ethylene crackers resumed operations in Europe after delayed restarts last week.
LyondellBasell"s cracker in Wesseling, Germany with a capacity of 735,000 tpa restarted after being shut in August for maintenance. The shutdown was scheduled for six weeks and the cracker was to restart in early October. Unexpected problems reportedly delayed the restart to last week, according to players in the region.
The joint venture cracker in Mossmorran, Scotland with a capacity of 800,000 tpa belonging to Shell Chemicals and ExxonMobil also reportedly restarted. It was shut at the end of August and was also set to restart earlier this month. A delay in the restart caused Shell to declare force majeure on ethylene supplies on October 18. Shell has not confirmed whether the force majeure has been lifted yet.
Cracker shutdowns in the region have led to tight prompt supplies in Northwest Europe earlier in the month.