It looks as if Friday the 13th – horror day of the superstitious – may have been a lucky day for the Italian petrochemicals sector. On 13 February, just as the collapse of the one of the country’s largest industries seemed imminent, minister for economic development Claudio Scajola pulled off the miracle political leaders and trade unions had been praying for: He salvaged the ruptured deal between Ineos (Lyndhurst / UK; www.ineos.com) and Safi, a company owned by Italian businessman Fiorenzo Sartor, on the takeover of VCM and PVC plants operated by Ineos’ non-consolidated affiliate Ineos Vinyls Italia at Porto Marghera – see Plasteurope.com of 11.02.2009.

Ineos had previously threatened to declare the Italian company insolvent on 11 February if agreement could not be reached. The UK group had locked horns with Sartor over the assumption of Ineos Vinyls Italia’s debts of EUR 80-100m as well as over the selling price for a PVC compounding plant in Switzerland.

As yet, no details of Friday’s pact have emerged. However, the Italian government said in a statement that this involves the Ineos plants at Porto Marghera as well as at Porto Torres and Assemini in Sardinia. Altogether, the livelihood of nearly 2,000 people depends on the facilities staying on stream. The unions feared a “domino effect” if one of the links in the industry’s highly connected petrochemicals infrastructure was broken.
Scajola’s negotiating team also is said to have reached understanding with Italian energy giant Eni (Rome; www.eni.it) on upgrading chlorine production at Porto Marghera to the membrane process – another essential element in the modernisation of Italy’s PVC chain – see Plasteurope.com of 27.10.2008.