OMV expands butadiene production with €30m Austrian investment

ERJ staff report (TP)

Vienna – Austrian oil and gas group OMV extended its butadiene plant at the Schwechat refinery in Austria this month.

OMV intends to focus on petrochemical production at its refinery sites – and parallel to the extension a new butadiene facility is being constructed at its refinery in Burghausen (Germany). This is expected to go into operation in Q2 2015.

Manfred Leitner, executive board member responsible for refining and marketing, said: "With the extended plant we are building on the synergies of the Schwechat refinery with regards to petrochemicals. We are creating additional earnings potential and further improving our competitive position."

The upgrade began in September 2013 and was completed on 26 April. Regular operations began on 2 May. Butadiene capacity has increased by 30 percent and can now produce 60,000 tons of butadiene per year.

The extended plant can still be run by the same number of employees. Up to 90 people were employed in the run-up to the six-week standstill of the plant, while as many as 300 people worked there each day during the upgrade.

In May last year, ERJ’s sister publication European Plastics News reported that OMV invested €230m in a project to boost and upgrade its production of butadiene in Germany and Austria.

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Press release from OMV