How are critically low Rhine River water levels directly disrupting Germany's petrochemical production?

Critically low Rhine River water levels are severely restricting the transport of naphtha and LPG to inland steam crackers via barges due to insufficient navigable depth—especially at the Kaub chokepoint, where levels are expected to fall to 25 cm—causing feedstock shortages, reduced cracker operating rates, lower output of ethylene, propylene, crude C4, and downstream products like butadiene, and forcing technical outages; additionally, reduced river flow and elevated water temperatures are impairing water-cooling unit operations, prompting further production curtailments.

What specific force majeure action has been taken by LyondellBasell, and what is its stated cause?

LyondellBasell declared force majeure on supply from its 170,000 metric tons/year butadiene extraction unit at Wesseling, Germany, effective July 16 and until further notice, explicitly attributing the outage to low Rhine water levels, which restricted feedstock movement to crackers and reduced production of crude C4 and butadiene needed to fulfill contractual obligations.

Low Rhine Water Levels Hit Naphtha Supply, Dent German Petrochemicals Output

Jul 24, 2026

Low Rhine water levels disrupt naphtha logistics and cooling, forcing production curtailments at major German petrochemical sites like LyondellBasell and Shell. This has triggered force majeure declarations and reduced output of key olefins such as butadiene.

chemweek

Low Rhine Water Levels Hit Naphtha Supply, Dent German Petrochemicals Output

chemweek

2026-07-24

Low Rhine Water Levels Hit Naphtha Supply, Dent German Petrochemicals Output

Low Rhine Water Levels Hit Naphtha Supply, Dent German Petrochemicals Output

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