The return of length to Europe's propylene market has opened up the opportunity to export, trade sources said this week.
One trader said he had exported 3,700 mt of propylene from Antwerp, Belgium for Cartenga, Columbia last week, while another said "I'm currently working on exports from ARA. One day prices were at the monthly contract price plus 13% FD NWE, the next week prices came down to export levels." Northwest European propylene spot prices were assessed at Eur711.50/mt ($796.00/mt) CIF on Thursday falling from an around 11-month high of Eur788/mt on August 25.
Supply had suddenly arrived in Europe due to polypropylene outages across the continent, while demand had increased in both the Americas and Asia on production issues, sources said.
NWE propylene supply grew as force majeure had been in place on Borealis' polypropylene production at Kallo, Belgium until Tuesday. Force majeure was first declared at the 300,000 mt/year PP unit on September 15, following a power outage at the site on September 5. Borealis supplies its PP site with propylene from its 480,000 mt/year propane dehydrogenation plant, also at Kallo.
Meanwhile, Ineos continue a four-week planned maintenance at its 235,000 mt/year polypropylene plant in Grangemouth, Scotland, which began in the first half of September.
Greater demand for propylene has been seen in both the US and Asia due to recent production issues. In the US, Enterprise Products Partners is restarting the Splitter I propylene unit at its Mont Belvieu, Texas, natural gas liquids complex following maintenance, the company said Monday.
Market sources could not confirm when the unit was taken down, but a previous filing with TCEQ shows the unit was last shut for maintenance on August 30.
In Asia, Shell Chemicals issued a force majeure on base chemicals from its Singaporean Pulau Bukom complex as of September 29, after an emergency shutdown of the cracker on September 27 due to a compressor problem.
Shell Singapore expects to restart its troubled steam cracker "in the next few weeks," a company spokesperson said Wednesday.
In the US prices were assessed at 39.5 cents/lb [$871/mt] FD USG on Thursday, close to a 43 cents/lb [$947/mt] on September 20 which was the highest since April 2015. In Asia prices were at $850/mt CFR China on Thursday, not far from the near one-year $875/mt high on September 6.
