With effect from 20 April 2021, UK petrochemical group Ineos (London; www.ineos.com) declared force majeure on polypropylene from its Belgian site in Geel. Due to technical issues, the company’s 300,000 t/y olefins and polymers line had to be shut down on 16 April for repairs to critical equipment. Ineos said it would “allocate available supplies fairly”.

The company also has two PTA lines at the Geel site, which supply the neighbouring activities of PET producer JBF Industries (Mumbai, Maharashtra / India; www.jbfindia.com). Both PTA plants belonging to Ineos’ aromatics unit are reportedly also under force majeure, which to some extent affects BASF’s (Ludgwishafen / Germany; www.basf.com) PBT production (see Plasteurope.com of 20.04.2021).