As part of its European restructuring, plastics and chemicals company LyondellBasell has announced plans to close down a high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit in Wesseling, Germany in the third quarter of 2013.
The 100kt/year unit is said to be among the smallest and least efficient of the LyondellBasell HDPE units in Europe, and the company claims to have sufficient HDPE capacity to meet customer needs from its larger scale facilities.
“LyondellBasell continues to take definitive steps to reorganise our operations in Europe to increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve the competitiveness of our businesses,” says Bob Patel, senior vice president olefins & polyolefins, Europe, Asia and International.
“The closure of under-competitive assets, along with the restructuring and efficiency-improvement initiatives in our business areas, manufacturing and R&D, will better position LyondellBasell to compete in today’s economic environment.”
While it claims to be the largest company producing both polyethylene and polypropylene in Europe, LyondellBasell has in recent years overseen “a reduction in its headcount in business areas by 30%”.
