C&EN: Russian gas supplies continue to impact European chemical manufacturing

Via this week's C&EN, more news from Europe (article by Alex Tullo): 

The war in Ukraine is dragging Europe, Germany in particular, further into an energy crisis as Russia withholds natural gas supplies. The situation has become so severe that chemical makers are beginning to permanently shut down plants.

Trinseo says it has begun discussions with the local works council about the potential closure of its styrene facility in Böhlen, Germany. The company says the plant, which has 300,000 metric tons per year of production capacity, has lost a total of $30 million over the past four quarters.

“The cost position of the Böhlen facility is challenged due to the current energy cost environment in Europe as well as the facility’s smaller scale, and it’s difficult to envision significant earnings improvement at the site in the near to medium term,” Trinseo CEO Frank Bozich says in a statement.

In November 2021, Trinseo announced that it was exploring options to sell its polystyrene and styrene business, a divestiture that would have included the Böhlen plant. Citing uncertainty due in part to the war in Ukraine, the firm shelved sale plans in August.

Similarly, Olin has announced that it intends to shut down methylene chloride and chloroform production in Stade, Germany, by the third quarter of 2023. The company reduced its corporate earnings outlook in September because of deteriorating demand in Europe and North America. And the Japanese firm Arakawa Chemical Industries recently announced that it would close a hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin plant in Germany in 2023.

 Makes you wonder if chemical commodity inflation will be impacted by supply as well as demand...