London — Expectations for the European August propylene contract price have been heard at a rollover amid stable fundamentals, according to market sources.

The July contract price was fully settled at Eur1,032/mt ($1,209/mt), which means the August contract is expected to settle at that level.

The S&P Global Platts propylene contract price indicator for August was assessed at Eur1,035/mt ($1,212/mt) FD NWE Monday, Eur3 above the industry’s contract price settlement for July.

Sources said they expected fundamentals to be unchanged in August because of tight supply following a reduction in cracker run rates due to hot weather in Northwest Europe and unplanned turnarounds.

ExxonMobil have currently halted their steam cracker in Port Jerome-Gravenchon, France due to an “internal electrical failure” on Sunday, the company said Monday. The cracker can produce 290,000 mt/year of propylene, Platts Analytics data showed.

Adding to that, the Naphtachimie stream cracker at Lavera in southern France, has been running at reduced capacity since the end of June following a technical issue, market sources said. The company was not immediately available for comment.

The cracker, a joint venture between Ineos and Total, has the capacity to produce around 500,000 mt/year of propylene, Platts Analytics data showed. Propylene delivered 3-30 days forward was last assessed at Eur1,082.5/mt FD NWE Monday, down Eur4 on day.

Meanwhile, naphtha, the primary feedstock for olefin production in NWE, was last assessed at $639.50/mt CIF NWE Monday, down $21.75 from June 29, when the contract price settled, Platts data showed.

–Lara Berton, lara.berton@spglobal.com

–Edited by Jonathan Dart, jonathan.dart@spglobal.com

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/072418-august-european-propylene-contract-price-expected-to-settle-at-rollover