**ORLEN Unipetrol’s Litvínov Refinery and Petrochemical Operations Remain Offline**
ORLEN Unipetrol, the leading refining and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic, has temporarily suspended all processing and production activities at its 5.4-million-tonne/year (tpy) integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Litvínov. The shutdown, initiated following the discovery of an unexploded aerial World War II bomb on August 21 during excavation work in a remote part of the Chempark Záluží petrochemical complex, has extended the facility’s operational downtime.
The discovery necessitated an immediate and safe shutdown of all production and energy units at the Litvínov refinery to ensure the safety of employees and the surrounding area. This measure included a controlled shutdown of the Chempark Záluží ethylene plant’s 544,000-tonne/year steam cracker and the reduction of operations at the site’s polymerization and other downstream units.
ORLEN Unipetrol has confirmed that the Czech Republic police and fire and rescue services are currently scheduled to proceed with the controlled disposal of the bomb on Friday, August 30, at 12:00 p.m. local time. The process has involved closing surrounding infrastructure and areas around the complex, imposing extensive safety measures to mitigate any potential risks.
Following the bomb’s disposal, a comprehensive inspection of the pyrotechnics explosion site will be conducted by both the police and fire rescue services. Subsequently, ORLEN Unipetrol will conduct its own thorough inspection to assess the condition of all production units and infrastructure, following which a decision regarding the timeline for restarting operations will be made.
Despite the shutdown, ORLEN Unipetrol has secured fuel supplies to the Czech market through increased fuel imports from the broader ORLEN Group and from the state’s material reserves. The company has expressed gratitude to the Czech government, the Ministry of Industry