Czech petrochemical producer Unipetrol has awarded contracts to Linde and Technip to reconstruct its ethylene cracker at the Zaluzi site in Litvinov. The unit was severely damaged following an explosion and fire on Aug. 13 this year.

Unipetrol hopes to restore the plant to full operation in October 2016. A partial (65%) restart of the ethylene unit, including related petrochemical production and increased utilization of the refinery, is planned for July 2016.

Linde’s “major package” comprises engineering, procurement and construction management for the plant’s reconstruction. Technip, which is currently building a 270,000 t/y PE plant for Unipetrol at Litvinov, expected on stream in 2018, will deliver some technical components, including four new pyrolysis furnaces.

Marek Switajewski, Unipetrol’s chairman and CEO, said the company was doing its maximum to get the facility operating again in the shortest possible time.

The outage has affected the company’s downstream production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as Unipetrol has had to source ethylene and propylene feedstock from external suppliers.

In the third quarter, Unipetrol took an impairment charge of around €22 million relating to the damaged assets.