The extent of damage from a May 10 fire at an oil refinery and plastic feedstocks plant operated by Shell Chemicals in Wesseling, Germany, remains unknown.
According to one media report, a Shell spokeswoman confirmed that a fire broke out in a furnace at the site at around 2:20 p.m. and was extinguished shortly after 9 p.m. She added that no injuries were reported.
Shell officials could not be reached for further comment. The chemicals portion of the refinery makes plastic feedstocks ethylene, propylene and benzene. Its annual ethylene production capacity is estimated at about 570 million pounds.
Any feedstock outage could worsen an already-tight European resin market. At least six resin makers in the region have declared force majeure supply limits since mid-March, leading to higher resin prices and drawing criticism from European plastic trade groups.