OMV of Austria informed that it will extend its ethylene capacity by 150 kt to approximately 500 kt per year, and its propylene capacity by 100 kt to approximately 400 kt per year by January 1, 2006 (the majority of the petrochemicals will be delivered by pipeline to the neighboring Borealis plant as input material for its polyethylene and polypropylene production). G. Roiss, OMV’s deputy CEO, said that "This investment is deliberately being made when the plastics industry is at the bottom of its economic cycle in order to benefit from an expected upturn in 2005/06. An increasing demand for plastics should start impacting Europe in the second half of 2003."
This is interesting to note since while the OMV/Borealis capacity expansion would somewhat hinder the performance of Unipetrol in the medium term, an upswing in polyolefin prices is indeed expected at the end of 2003, which will have a positive impact on Unipetrol, as it recently significantly increased its olefin and polyolefin production capacity.
Jiri Soustruznik