Sabic has announced it has commenced maintenance work at its location in Geleen, at the Chemelot Industrial Park. The turnaround, which occurs once every 6 years, will involve more than 900 Sabic employees and more than 1,000 contractors carrying out essential tasks over a period of three months.
This time, the turnaround differs from previous maintenance rounds, as it includes the permanent decommissioning of Sabic’s Olefins 3 naphtha cracker, together with five other units of the entire cracker complex. During this turnaround, which represents a multi-million dollar investment, the cracker section of Olefins 3 will be disconnected and will not be restarted.
The decision to shutter the cracker is part of the strategic reorientation of the site, prompted by careful evaluation and market conditions, that is designed to ‘prepare the Geleen site for future success in a competitive market’.
Naphtha cracker Olefins 4 will continue to function normally.
As part of this strategic reorientation, the focus will shift toward optimising Sabic's product portfolio, improving efficiency, and making sustainable investments in its core assets. The advanced recycling plant currently being built by Sabic Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling B.V. will play a critical part in this strategy. The plant is nearing completion and will play a crucial role in recycling plastics and creating a circular economy.
Sabic is also working towards its goal of achieving the carbon neutrality of its operations by 2050. To that end, the company now relies largely on renewable wind energy; almost 80% of Sabic’s annual energy needs in the Netherlands is supplied by renewables, helping to reduce indirect CO2 emissions by more than 240,000 metric tons.
John Bruijnooge, General Manager at SABIC in Geleen: “These changes mark an important step in SABIC's commitment to a more sustainable future and adaptation to changing market conditions. Site Geleen remains committed to efficiency improvements and initiatives that support our carbon neutrality and circularity goals.”