Bomb discovery shutters Orlen Unipetrol’s Czech integrated refining complex

Orlen Unipetrol AS subsidiary Orlen Unipetrol RPA SRO has suspended all processing and production activities at its 5.4-million tonne/year (tpy) integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Litvínov in the Czech Republic, following discovery of an unexploded aerial bomb from World War II.

After unearthing the 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 in a process fully completed on Aug. 22, the operator said in a series of Aug. 21-23 releases.

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 it has also initiated the controlled shutdown of the Chempark Záluží ethylene plant’s 544,000-tpy steam cracker, as well as started reducing operations at the site’s polymerization and other downstream units.

While Orlen Unipetrol did not reveal an anticipated timeframe for when operations at the petrochemicals portion of the complex would fully cease, the company said it is currently cooperating with the Czech Republic police and fire rescue services to prepare areas for the bomb’s deactivation that, at the earliest, is scheduled to occur on Aug. 28.

Following the bomb’s deactivation, the company said it “assume[s] that [it] will then be able to proceed with resuming operations of the entire site.”

In the meantime, Orlen Unipetrol has 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.”