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Europe: German petrochemical producers keep feedstock mix steady in 2010

https://www.chemnet.com   Mar 09,2011 Platts
The German petrochemical industry increased oil product consumption in 2010 by 8% year-on-year to 22.76 million mt while keeping the feedstock mix largely steady, an analysis of data released by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control Monday shows.

Naphtha volumes used in chemical processes, including returns from the petrochemical industry, rose 8.6% year-on-year to 16.12 million mt, accounting for a barely changed 70.8% share of total consumption.

The input of heavy fuel oil eased 2% to 3.85 million mt, decreasing its share in overall petrochemical consumption by 1.7 percentage points to 16.9%.

In the previous year, about 71% of fuel oil was used as cracker feedstock and the remainder for energy generation, according to German chemical industry federation VCI.

Petrochemical producers stepped up the use of liquefied petroleum gas by 13.2% to 1.32 million mt, leaving its share in the feedstock mix at 5.8%, up 0.3 points.

The solely energy-related use of light heating oil jumped 43.1% to 913,518 mt.

Consumption of refinery gases, which are generated during refinery processes, rose 13.8% to 466,265 mt, accounting for 2% of the total.

In December, Germany-based petrochemical companies used 1.99 million mt of mineral oil products in total, up 14.6% year-on-year. Naphtha consumption in petrochemical processing was up 12% year-on-year at 1.37 million mt and fuel oil use rose 22% to 404,011 mt. By contrast, the consumption of LPG, which is also used as a heating fuel, fell 11.5% to 77,562 mt against the backdrop of a cold snap gripping parts of Europe.

Germany's official oil data are based on monthly surveys of companies with a legal reporting obligation and reflect almost the entire market, according to the economics and export control office.

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