After seven years, polyethylene production at Libya’s Ras Lanuf refinery is resuming. Ras Lanuf Oil & Gas Processing (Rasco), a subsidiary of the National Oil Corporation (NOC, Benghazi; www.noc-ly.org), was damaged and shut down during the civil war in 2011. In the ongoing turmoil, the local cracker was intermittently rebuilt and is now running its two PE lines (HD and LLD) again. One of the two lines is apparently already operating at 100%, with the second getting up to speed.

According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net), the Ras Lanuf cracker has nameplate capacities of 330,000 t/y of ethylene and 170,000 t/y of propylene. The two PE lines there each have a capacity of 80,000 t/y.