Nel Weddle

LONDON (ICIS)--Saudi petrochemicals major SABIC is to restart its Wilton, UK steam cracker after an £850m investment, the company and the local mayor said on Thursday. The Teesside facility, known as Olefins 6, has an ethylene production capacity of 865,000 tonnes/year. The company would not disclose when it plans to restart the cracker. According to media reports, that would be in 2022. The cracker was shut down in September 2020 for planned maintenance  which had been scheduled for Spring 2020.

LONDON (ICIS)--European ethylene and propylene markets remain extraordinarily firm with production at a low point due to planned turnarounds and healthy demand which is showing no signs of letting up in the near to medium term. Spring turnarounds reach their peak in May: Refinery maintenance is also under way, further restricting propylene supplies.

LONDON (ICIS)--After several months of very poor demand for butadiene (BD) due to the well-known impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the key end-user automotive sector, the European BD market has finally started to show some more sustained improvement. Demand for both domestic and spot export needs has improved considerably since the spring.