European oxo-alcohol players weigh up future market influences

European oxo-alcohol players talk of a calm and steady market for February, but are looking ahead with caution due in part to a busy upstream maintenance programme. The supply of n-butanol (NBA), isobutanol (IBA) and 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) are all healthy despite an ongoing force majeure declaration from BASF on IBA. The declaration was announced on 24 October for both NBA and IBA, but was lifted for NBA on 19 November. Following a year of heavy maintenance for oxo-alcohol units in 2018, any work to be carried out in Europe this year is only expected to be for one or two weeks of routine maintenance. However, a heavy cracker maintenance slate is approaching, with the crunch point expected when maintenance at Europe’s two largest crackers – BASF’s in Antwerp, Belgium, and Shell’s in Moerdijk, The Netherlands – coincide in May.