Plans for a new propylene pipeline system linking Northwest Europe could be approved by the European Commission before the close of 2003, said Bas Kostering, head of hydrocarbons at Sabic EuroPetrochemical, it was reported

The project, initiated by seven partners-Sabic/DSM, Shell, BASF, Celanese, Sasol, BP/Veba ORP, and Degussa/Rutgers-would cost 180 million Euros ($92m) to build.
The partners are seeking EC subsidies of 46m Euros ($53m) of which 37m Euros ($42m) would be from the German government, 5-mil Euros ($5.7m) from Belgium and 4m Euros  ($4.6m) from the Netherlands, Kostering said.

The project involves the construction of a 360km long pipeline system linking the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, with pipes passing through Rotterdam, Antwerp, Geleen, Gelsenkirchen and Marl, among others.

Initial engineering work has almost been completed, and the project is currently awaiting the greenlight from EC as soon as issues such as subsidies and impact on environment, are ironed out, Kostering said.

Once approved, the project is expected to be completed in two stages, by mid-2005 and end-2006.

The pipeline system is much needed to meet the growing deficit of propylene in the NWE region, which is expected to reach 1.55m tonnes by 2006, Kostering said.

The system, when fully operational, would be able to transport between 1-1.5m tonnes per year (tpy) of propylene in and around NWE.

As Europe's polypropylene plant capacities get bigger, PP producers would need a more efficient way system in order to get access to feedstock. With the pipeline system, C3 and PP producers would be able to have greater flexibility in managing feedstock supply, thereby cutting dependency on current slower barge transportation.

C3 producers would also be able to swap products via pipeline should there be an unexpected outage at specific production facilities.

'We will be able to increase competitiveness (as a result),' Kostering said, adding that the pipeline system would have minimal impact on the environment.