Fire at Lukoil's Stavrolen petrochemical plant in Budennovsk, Russia will idle both the high density polyethylene and the polypropylene units until at least March 2012

Philip Goldsmith

LOS ANGELES , December 22, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – According to an anonymous source at Lukoil, last week’s fire at Lukoil’s Stavrolen petrochemical plant in Budennovsk, Russia, has shut down the high density polyethylene and the polypropylene units until at least March 2012, ICIS.com reported on Dec. 22.

He said the final official estimate for both damages and the amount of time needed for repairs following the fire on December 15 are supposed to be made available on Jan. 13.

Lukoil, which is Russia’s second-largest publicly traded company, said that it was also planning to carry out maintenance that had originally been scheduled for April 2012 during a regular shutdown.

Repairs at the plant began on Dec. 16.

The company also said that approximately 200 employees, of 10% of the plant’s total number of staff, will be placed on accident leave. These staff members will be given compensation that is two to three times higher than their normal pay.

An earlier accident at the plant involved an explosion in 2008. The polypropylene unit at the facility was not fully restarted until May 2009.

Stavrolen petrochemical plant can produce 300,000 tonnes of high density polyethylene and 120,000 tonnes of polypropylene annually.

The primary source of this article is ICIS.com, Sutton, England, on Dec. 22, 2011.

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