Nova Chemicals has declared force majeure on polyethylene resins made at its plants in Sarnia, Ontario.
In a March 21 letter to customers, officials with Nova in Calgary, Alberta, said the firm has experienced "an unplanned outage" at its Corunna, Ontario, ethylene cracker. That cracker supplies ethylene to Nova's PE facilities in the Sarnia area.
Resins impacted by the force majeure include high and low density PE and Sclairtech advanced PE resins.
"At present, the estimated duration of the force majeure is unknown," officials said. "We currently have no firm indication as to what extent we will be able to supply your needs during this force majeure. Be assured that we are working diligently to rectify the situation."
Nova is one of North America's largest PE resin makers. The firm employs almost 3,000 worldwide and has annual sales of $3.6 billion.