SABIC EUROPETROCHEMICALS
Growing responsibility for polyolefins market / Production to be stepped up in Europe?
While major European players such as BASF, BP, Shell and Total have been impatiently pawing the ground, yearning to move farther along the value chain, Sabic EuroPetrochemicals (NL-6130 AA Sittard; www.sabic-europe.com), with its parent company, Sabic (Riyadh / Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com), is reaffirming its faith in polyolefins. Its declared aim is to grow twice as fast as the market in the next few years and to more than double its sales by 2015.
At a press conference held in mid-September at its German production site at Gelsenkirchen, Sabic´s European arm said it would underscore its ambitions with a strong presence at the upcoming K 2004 fair being held from 20-27 October in Düsseldorf. “We will demonstrate our will to be a key player,” said Dieter Lindemann, who, as general manager of Sabic Deutschland (D-40474 Düsseldorf), is responsible for sales in the German-speaking regions.
As Sabics´s European polymers manager Koos van Haasteren told PIE, the Saudi group is seriously considering a massive expansion of its European production capacities. As it stands now, Sabic will be looking to increase its cracker capacity at Geleen in The Netherlands by 2008. Van Haasteren mentioned in particular the possibility of an additional 600,000 t/y of propylene. This would allow a PP and an LDPE plant, each with a capacity of 400,000 t/y, to be built at the Dutch location. For Gelsenkirchen, a new production line for the bimodal HDPE, “Vestolen A” (PE 100 for pressure pipes), with a capacity of up to 250,000 t/y, is being mulled. The new HDPE plant would replace the existing 100,000 t/y facility. The overall project is currently the subject of a feasibility study, and a decision will be made in 2005.
Sabic´s Dutch/German management has made it relatively clear that the Saudi petrochemicals giant is aware of its growing importance for the European market, also with regard to the sensitive question of prices. As cooperation within the worldwide group is tightened and products are rebranded as Sabic (see PIE 12, 2004), the group intends to pursue a more consequent price policy than in the past, executives indicated.
Sabic also is making an intensive effort to steer the integration of the entire European polyolefins value chain, to help maintain a continuous volume flow and thus reduce the market´s volatility. Leveraging its strength and influence, it could potentially make more of a contribution here than, for example, efforts by the London Metal Exchange (LME) to create a futures market for plastics (see PIE 14, 2004).
To level out the high fluctuations in demand that frequently lead to erratic price movements and to reduce speculative buying, the Saudi group´s management has begun talking to its customers and to OEMs. Agreements with the packaging and automotive sectors already have been reached.
In this connection, van Haasteren said he views the LME´s plans with scepticism. Sabic will not actively participate in the futures scheme, which he said, “does not get to the heart of the problem,” The group is, however, watching developments very closely and is not completely excluding the possibility of participation at a later stage, the European polymers manager said.
• Plasteurope.com Service: Brochure with an overview of Sabic´s polymers portfolio: PIE-No. 46752.
At a press conference held in mid-September at its German production site at Gelsenkirchen, Sabic´s European arm said it would underscore its ambitions with a strong presence at the upcoming K 2004 fair being held from 20-27 October in Düsseldorf. “We will demonstrate our will to be a key player,” said Dieter Lindemann, who, as general manager of Sabic Deutschland (D-40474 Düsseldorf), is responsible for sales in the German-speaking regions.
As Sabics´s European polymers manager Koos van Haasteren told PIE, the Saudi group is seriously considering a massive expansion of its European production capacities. As it stands now, Sabic will be looking to increase its cracker capacity at Geleen in The Netherlands by 2008. Van Haasteren mentioned in particular the possibility of an additional 600,000 t/y of propylene. This would allow a PP and an LDPE plant, each with a capacity of 400,000 t/y, to be built at the Dutch location. For Gelsenkirchen, a new production line for the bimodal HDPE, “Vestolen A” (PE 100 for pressure pipes), with a capacity of up to 250,000 t/y, is being mulled. The new HDPE plant would replace the existing 100,000 t/y facility. The overall project is currently the subject of a feasibility study, and a decision will be made in 2005.
Sabic´s Dutch/German management has made it relatively clear that the Saudi petrochemicals giant is aware of its growing importance for the European market, also with regard to the sensitive question of prices. As cooperation within the worldwide group is tightened and products are rebranded as Sabic (see PIE 12, 2004), the group intends to pursue a more consequent price policy than in the past, executives indicated.
Sabic also is making an intensive effort to steer the integration of the entire European polyolefins value chain, to help maintain a continuous volume flow and thus reduce the market´s volatility. Leveraging its strength and influence, it could potentially make more of a contribution here than, for example, efforts by the London Metal Exchange (LME) to create a futures market for plastics (see PIE 14, 2004).
To level out the high fluctuations in demand that frequently lead to erratic price movements and to reduce speculative buying, the Saudi group´s management has begun talking to its customers and to OEMs. Agreements with the packaging and automotive sectors already have been reached.
In this connection, van Haasteren said he views the LME´s plans with scepticism. Sabic will not actively participate in the futures scheme, which he said, “does not get to the heart of the problem,” The group is, however, watching developments very closely and is not completely excluding the possibility of participation at a later stage, the European polymers manager said.
• Plasteurope.com Service: Brochure with an overview of Sabic´s polymers portfolio: PIE-No. 46752.
30.09.2004 Plasteurope.com [201171]
Published on 30.09.2004