Western European production of ethylene, propylene and butadiene in the fourth quarter of 2012 was down from the same period of 2011, according to the Association of Petrochemical Producers in Europe this week.
Ethylene production in the quarter was 4.497 million mt, representing a year-on-year decline of 5.15%. Propylene production totaled 3.429 million mt, down 4.9%. And butadiene production in the quarter was 500,000 mt, a fall of 2.3%.
For 2012 as a whole, volumes were: ethylene 18.874 million mt, a fall of 3.5% on the year; propylene, 14.287 million mt, down 1.33%; and butadiene, 2.054 million a fall of 1.58% from 2011.
LYONDELLBASELL, DOW DISAPPOINT
Petrochemical majors' Q4 results reflected the lackluster European petrochemical sector.
For LyondellBasell, the Olefins and Polyolefins-Americas business saw operating profit jump to $693 million in Q4 from $328 million from a year earlier, while EBITDA rose to $769 million from $407 million, thanks to strong margins arising from lower natural gas liquid prices, and higher ethylene production.
For the O&P business in the rest of the world, including Asia and economically straitened Europe, however, the operating loss widened to $94 million from $73 million last time, while EBITDA grew slightly to $50 million from $45 million.
"Olefins in North America continue to benefit from strong margins created by low priced natural gas liquid raw materials. However, outside of North America, the global olefins industry continues to experience low operating rates and profitability, negatively impacting our European olefins and commodity polyolefin businesses," the company said.
For Dow, global sales were $56.8 billion, down 5% for Q4 2012 compared to a year earlier, with the decline led by Western Europe, the company said.
"We see Europe as continually challenged certainly throughout 2013," the company said.
