MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nova Chemicals declared force majeure on supplies from its Joffre C4 (butene) linear low density polyethylene facility near Red Deer in Alberta, Canada, a company spokeswoman said in an email July 14 to S&P Global.
The declaration will cover all C4 LLDPE resins produced at the facility effective July 13, the company also said in a letter to customers.
"Over the past several days we have experienced mechanical failures beyond our reasonable control at our two butene linear low polyethylene (LLDPE) reactors in Joffre. As the result of the repair timing and current inventory levels, we have declared force majeure on all butene LLDPE," spokeswoman Jennifer Nanz said in the email.
The event does not affect any of NOVA's other polyethylene products, Nanz said.
"We are committed to safely resolving these issues as quickly as possible. However, we do not yet know the expected length of the force majeure," Nanz said.
The Joffre facility has two LLDPE units with a combined capacity of 1.1 million mt/year, according to data compiled by Platts.
NOVA said in the letter it could provide "no firm indication" as yet on the extent to which the company would be able to supply its customers needs during the force majeure. Nanz could not provide any further information.
As MRC reported before, NOVA Chemicals expanded ethylene production capacity by 20% at its cracker in Corunna, Ontario from the previous capacity of about 839,000 tpy. The expansion occurred between 2014 and 2018 and was part of a wave of expansions and upgrades to NOVA's existing facilities near Sarnia, Ontario. Other upgrades in the plan included a debottlenecking of the Moore low-density polyethylene (LDPE) line and a retrofit of the Moore high-density polyethylene (HDPE) line.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, May LLDPE shipments to the Russian market rose to 31,290 tonnes from 30,450 tonnes a month earlier, production increased. Overall LLDPE shipments to Russia totalled 153,080 tonnes in the first five months of 2020, down by 5% year on year. Production and exports increased by 2 times.
NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a plastics and chemical company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is wholly-owned ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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