May 20 2009
LyondellBasell Industries announced today that its polyolefins supply network in Turkey will be expanded with the opening of additional product distribution facilities throughout the country. The network expansion is scheduled to start in July 2009 and to be completed by September of this year.
Bonded storage warehouses located in the city of Gaziantep and on the European and Asian sides of Istanbul will be established, which will complement the company's existing distribution center located in the city of Mersin, in southern Turkey, as well as Thessaloniki, Greece, which supplies customers in Central and Southern Europe.
The extended flexible distribution network will provide continuous supply of state-of-the-art polypropylene and polyethylene to the region from assets in Europe as well as from LyondellBasell's joint ventures in Saudi Arabia - Saudi Polyolefins Company (SPC), Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Company (SEPC) and Al-Waha Petrochemical Company.
"Our network of distribution platforms will effectively assist customers in meeting their product needs in a timely manner," said Jean Gadbois, LyondellBasell's Vice President of Supply Chain for Europe, Asia and International. "Customers can obtain material from nearby warehouses and transport it directly to their production facilities, which will save time and improve productivity. Given the extreme volatility of today's markets, this flexibility will be highly beneficial to customers in the region."
According to Belkis Tamakan, General Manager of LyondellBasell's operations in Turkey, the country imports nearly two million tonnes of polyolefins annually. "We are fully committed to providing this fast-growing country with world-class products and services, both from our strategically located Middle East joint ventures and wholly owned production facilities in Europe."