Borealis’ Q1 2013 profits fall 56%

Specialty chemicals maker Borealis reported a fall of 56 per cent in first quarter 2013 net profits compared to the same period last year – but also said that the Q1 2013 profits had come in above expectations.

Austria-based Borealis reported profits of €61 million (US$78 million) in Q1 2013, down from €140 million in the same period last year.

The fall was partly due to soft market conditions for the company’s European polyolefins business, Borealis said in a statement, and because of lower profits from Borouge, Borealis’s joint venture with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. due to a planned turnaround for routine maintenance. “Borouge…has safely completed scheduled turnarounds at its Borouge 1 and Borouge 2 crackers and polyethylene and polypropylene plants,” the statement said. “All the plants have been restarted successfully after the turnaround and production levels have returned to normal.”

Borealis is also currently heavily involved in the start-up of its Borouge 3 expansion project in Abu Dhabi, which the company said will lift the annual production capacity at the integrated olefins and polyolefins site to 4.5m tonnes by mid-2014 from the current rate of 2 million tonnes per year.

“Despite the largest Borouge turnaround in its history and a continuation of soft market conditions in European polyolefins, profits exceeded expectations,” said Mark Garrett, Borealis chief executive. “Our base chemicals business continued to bring good results confirming our strategy to expand in this area. We will further optimise our European operations in order to be sustainably profitable and to grow in these volatile markets, whilst remaining committed to our long-term winning strategy.”