LyondellBasell's Berre refinery and petrochemical site in France are in the process of restarting Monday after a strike that started nearly two weeks ago in protest against the decision to close the refinery, the company said.
"Refining, olefins and polymers units at Berre will be restarted over the next few days," the company said in a statement, adding that the workers had "agreed to end their strike and return to work on Monday."
The restart process should take "around a week," a union source said.
The site has restarted following an agreement reached between the union and management that, after mothballing the refinery, LyondellBasell will not dismantle it for a period of two years, the union source said.
"Until December 2013, it will be kept ready for a restart," the source said.
The refinery will be mothballed as of December 31, 2011 "for up to two years," the company said.
"Should a viable offer be received during that period, this would provide an opportunity to divest the refinery," LyondellBasell said, noting that it is "not reopening the sales process."
The Netherlands-based chemicals group said on September 27 that it plans to permanently close the 105,000 b/d Berre refinery in the south of France after failing to find a buyer for the plant.
LyondellBasell said, however, that it plans to continue operating its petrochemical assets at the Berre site, which include a steam cracker and polypropylene and polyethylene units.
"Taking the refinery out of service will enable us to focus our resources on our core petrochemical assets at Berre and would preserve approximately 900 jobs supporting those assets," LyondellBasell said.
