Total's NC3 naphtha cracker in Antwerp, Belgium, is currently offline due to an unplanned shutdown, according to market sources.
"The Fina NC3 cracker is down for an unknown period," one naphtha trader said.
A propylene buyer said that the shutdown was "semi-planned" and that it had been decided in the last month. He added that Total had already covered its position on monomers in advance of the shutdown.
Total declined to comment on the matter.
The Antwerp site hosts three crackers -- NC1, NC2 and NC3 -- with a combined ethylene capacity of 1.38 million mt/year. NC3 has a capacity of 580,000 mt/year.
The shutdown comes in the context of a weak and oversupplied European naphtha market, currently suffering from a lack of spot demand from petrochemical end-users maximizing their LPG cracking.
European naphtha closed Wednesday at $696.25/mt CIF NWE, plummeting from $831.75/mt on September 22.
