From early 2009, German petrochemical producers in the Ruhr area will be connected by a 60-km propylene pipeline extending from Moers to Gelsenkirchen and including Marl and Oberhausen. On 11 October 2007, the government of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia announced the long-awaited connector, on which construction already has begun.

The pipeline will initiate in Duisburg harbour, where ships carrying C3 from the refineries of the Benelux Rhine delta region will dock. Cost of the entire project has been put at EUR 60m, including EUR 45m for the pipeline and EUR 15m for the Duisburg terminal. Around EUR 40m is being financed by the state government, the remainder by major users, which include Sabic at Gelsenkirchen and the chemical park at Marl. A later extension of the pipeline to the Cologne area is not being ruled out.

With the new project, Germany has been able to save an important component of the now cancelled “EPDC” pipeline, which had been planned to connect the Rhine-Ruhr region with the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. After years of planning, the EPDC project was shelved at short notice in February of this year – see Plasteurope.com of 27.02.2007.