News and Articles

• LyondellBasell will close its remaining 260,000 t/yr polypropylene unit at Brindisi, Italy by the end of 2026.
• The closure follows the loss of local propylene feedstock after Eni's Versalis cracker at the same site shut down in April 2025.
• LyondellBasell had relied on up to 220,000 t/yr of propylene shipped from the Eni cracker and now must source feedstock from its Priolo site, raising freight costs.
• Trade unions said the polypropylene unit has been listed for sale at a symbolic price, with a buyer unlikely unless a propylene supply source is secured.
• Eni has hired an investment bank to find a buyer for its idled cracker, a sale that could also support a buyer for the polypropylene unit.
• The closure adds to a string of petrochemical capacity reductions in Italy, narrowing regional propylene and polypropylene supply options for buyers.

LyondellBasell said it plans to close its remaining polypropylene production unit at Brindisi, Italy, by the end of the year, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment, persistent uncertainty around feedstock availability, and structurally higher operating and logistics costs that have diminished the site's competitiveness.

The Brindisi unit has a nameplate capacity of 260,000 tonnes a year and was the first Spheripol polypropylene unit, opened in 1982, producing commodity homopolymer grades mainly for packaging. LyondellBasell closed another polypropylene unit at the same site in 2024.

The closure stems from the loss of local propylene supply. LyondellBasell does not operate its own propylene cracker at Brindisi and previously received up to 220,000 tonnes a year of propylene by sea from Eni's Versalis cracker at the same site before that unit shut down in April last year. Without nearby cracker output, feedstock has had to be shipped in from LyondellBasell's other Italian sites, mainly Priolo, adding freight costs that have weighed on the unit's cost position.

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Trade union representatives said LyondellBasell told them the unit's closure depends on Eni's decision on its cracker and on the broader crisis facing the region's petrochemical sector, with the company indicating it would proceed with the December closure. Union officials said LyondellBasell has put the polypropylene unit up for sale at a symbolic price but that finding a buyer would be difficult without a secured source of propylene from a nearby cracker. Eni has hired an investment bank to seek a buyer for its cracking plant, and union representatives said success in that search could make it easier for LyondellBasell to find a buyer for the polypropylene unit.

LyondellBasell said it remains committed to the European market and will continue to meet customer demand through its broader production network. The company completed the sale of several European assets to a newly formed regional petrochemical and polymer company, Velogy, on May 1.