Ellba, a joint venture of BASF and Shell Chemicals, is expected to restart its propylene oxide-styrene monomer (POSM) plant at Moerdijk, the Netherlands by mid-September, according to market sources.
The POSM plant at Moerdijk was temporarily shut down in mid-August for approximately two weeks due to a technical failure. The site is known for its production of 550,000 metric tons/year of styrene and 250,000 mt/year of propylene oxide.
Efforts are currently underway to restart POSM operations from next week. Shell has refrained from providing any information on the restart, citing “market sensitivity”. Similarly, BASF has not commented on the status of the Moerdijk plant, but it has confirmed purchasing several thousand tons of styrene to mitigate product shortages resulting from the POSM unit outage.
The downtime of the POSM unit has led to a surge in OPIS-assessed styrene spot prices in Europe. Various units in Europe are either undergoing planned or unplanned maintenance. This week, around 7,000 tons of styrene were traded at $1,590-1,665 per mt FOB Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp for August and September loading, with an August parcel sold at $1,540/mt FOB ARA on August 18.
Reporting: Fahima Mathe; Editing: Anthony Lane
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