Shell has confirmed it declared force majeure on its styrene monomer supplies out of Moerdijk, in the Netherlands, due to technical problems, the company said in an emailed statement to Platts Tuesday.
"As a result of unforeseen leakage in the styrene monomer/propylene oxide plant (MSPO-1) at Moerdijk, Shell Nederland Chemie B.V. (SNC) is unable to manufacture and supply its agreed amounts of products. As a result of these unplanned events, SNC has declared force majeure on Shell Chemicals Europe as of November 5, 2012," Shell said.
The force majeure declared by Shell Chemicals Europe Tuesday is with immediate effect. SNC's manufacturing teams are progressing with the essential repair work urgently, the company added.
According to Shell's customers, the 450,000 mt/year styrene monomer/propylene oxide plant experienced technical issues over the weekend that resulted in the loss of two weeks of production, approximately 15,000 mt.
Shell will be putting its customers on allocation, but no further details are available at this point, one customer said.
Shell owns a 450,000 mt/year POSM plant and the 550,000 mt/year joint venture Ellba plant with BASF at Moerdijk.
BASF said late Monday that there were no issues with the Ellba plant and that it was running at full capacity.
