— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

LyondellBasell (LYB, Houston, Texas, USA; www.lyondellbasell.com) and Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com) are still reluctant to comment on the planned closure of the combined propylene oxide/styrene plant in Maasvlakte, Netherlands. Both companies responded to a corresponding Plasteurope.com enquiry with statements that rumours would not be commented on until concrete decisions had been made. The negotiating partners of the Dutch trade unions FNV and CNV have also been tight-lipped. Although they confirm that negotiations have been going on since mid-January, they also point out that a non-disclosure agreement is in place.

However, media reports from the Netherlands make the closure of the plant appear almost certain. A detailed social plan for the 120 employees at the site is reportedly already in place. According to the information, 70 of them are to be made redundant. The remainder will presumably be used to decommission the plant, which, according to PIE’s Polyglobe database, has capacities for 640,000 t/y of styrene and 320,000 t/y of PO. It remains unclear when exactly the line, which has been throttled down to zero for some time, will be shuttered completely – as well as whether ethylbenzene production at the site near Rotterdam will follow suit.

Related: Trinseo plans polystyrene hike with healthy margin

This is the third styrene production facility to be removed from the market in Europe in the past two and a half years. Trinseo (Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA; www.trinseo.com) had already decided in 2022 and 2023 to shut down the plants in Terneuzen, Netherlands, with a capacity of 500,000 t/y and in Böhlen, Germany with a capacity of 300,000 t/y. Should Maasvlakte also fall, total European capacity – excluding Russia – would be reduced by a quarter from around 5.9 mn t/y. Since Plasteurope.com database records began in 2008, the number of styrene plants in Europe has fallen from 24 to 14.

The high price volatility of the primary product has long been a thorn in the side of styrenics processors. Some polystyrene processors have switched portions of their production to other polymers for this and other reasons. As imports, primarily from the US, are expected to replace the lack of capacity in Europe if demand picks up again, the price volatility of the primary product is likely to increase further.

The haste with which LyondellBasell is “reorganising” (to quote the annual report) is not surprising, given the losses in the fourth quarter of 2024. The group’s bottom line slipped into the red by USD 603 mn (almost EUR 580 mn). With sales of USD 9.5 bn – almost half a billion less than in the same period of the previous year – LYB also reported negative operating figures. However, this is primarily due to write-offs in the two large polyolefin segments and the compounds segment totalling more than USD 800 mn. In addition, there are also costs for the closure of the US refinery in Houston.

Related: Olefins: Technical issues at LYB cracker in Berre, France

In 2024 overall, LyondellBasell lost around 2% of its revenue, which dropped to USD 40.3 bn. Compared against the previous year, EBITDA fell by almost a quarter to USD 3.5 bn and profit by as much as a third to USD 1.4 bn. The main reason for the downturn was the decline in demand in all areas. Polyolefin exports from North America were able to curb the decline in sales volumes only slightly. Compounds also suffered from the weakness of the automotive industry.

Good news is currently scarce for CEO Peter Vanacker, such as a 65% increase in sales of recycled materials – albeit still at a very low level of just over 200,000 t. The group’s recent withdrawal from the recycling joint venture LMF Nord (Hohenwestedt, Germany) was therefore all the more surprising. LYB had wanted to use the obtained recycled materials in the manufacture of products from the CirculenRecover sustainability product range.

Despite the generally prevailing scepticism regarding an upturn this year, Vanacker’s management team sees positive indicators in the polyolefin market for the coming months. Among other things, capacity utilisation rates should stabilise – the plants of Olefins & Polyolefins Americas are expected to achieve an average of 80%, while the sister division for Europe, the Middle East, and India is expected to achieve 75%. Both figures are still noticeably below the level considered adequate, however.

— Translated by Elspeth Lenhard