Orlen Unipetrol’s Litvínov refinery, petrochemical operations remain offline

Orlen Unipetrol AS subsidiary Orlen Unipetrol RPA SRO has revealed a timeline for scheduled removal of an unexploded aerial World War II bomb, the discovery of which suspended all processing and production activities at the operator’s 5.4-million tonne/year (tpy) integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Litvínov in the Czech Republic (OGJ Online, Aug. 23, 2024).

In an Aug. 29 advisory, Orlen Unipetrol confirmed the Czech Republic police expected to proceed with the controlled disposal of the bomb on Friday, Aug. 30, at 12:00 p.m. local time, with ongoing closures to surrounding infrastructure and areas to remain shuttered through the process.

Following the bomb’s disposal, the Czech Republic police as well as fire and rescue services will conduct inspections of the pyrotechnics explosion site, after which time Orlen Unipetrol will begin its own inspection of the entire area, the operator said.

A decision regarding a timeline for starting Litvínov’s recommissioning process will be made following completion of company inspections, which will include checking the condition of all production units and infrastructure, Orlen Unipetrol said.

Continuity of fuel supplies to the Czech market, however, will remain ongoing through the bomb-intervention and post-intervention inspection periods, according to the operator.

After unearthing the World War II aerial bomb on Aug. 21 during excavation work in a remote part of its co-located Chempark Záluží petrochemical complex, Orlen Unipetrol began an immediate, safe shutdown of all production and energy units at the Litvínov refinery, which has remain fully shuttered since Aug. 22.

With suspension of refining activities resulting in a lack of feedstock availability for the site’s integrated petrochemical operations, Orlen Unipetrol on Aug. 23 confirmed initiating a controlled shutdown of the Chempark Záluží ethylene plant’s 544,000-tpy steam cracker and reducing operations at the site’s polymerization and other downstream units.

Orlen Unipetrol previously declared force majeure on product supply from the integrated complex, citing the bomb’s discovery as an “extraordinary, unforeseen, and insurmountable obstacle…mak[ing] it impossible for [the company] to duly perform its obligations arising from contractual arrangements with its business partners.”