Page 16 - Plastics News June - 2020

Fire at Oil India's Assam gas well DOMO Chemical to close manufacturing line
gas well at Oil India Ltd (OIL) plant in Baghjan in
ATinsukia district of Assam caught fire, earlier this
month. Fire tenders been deployed at The upstream
explorer to prevent the fire from spreading to
adjoining areas and around 1600 families evacuated
from the nearby affected areas and housed in relief
camps Preliminary information indicates that three
firemen, two from OIL India, and one from ONGC
jumped in a water pool nearby. While ONGC fireman
got injured, two OIL India firemen could not save
themselves. Their bodies have been retrieved," the
union petroleum ministry said in a statement. The
state run firm had also sought help from Oil and Natural
Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Singapore based firm Alert
Disaster Control.
“The well was planned to be capped by following the
advice of experts and taking all safety precautions.
While the clearing operations were going on at the well
site, the well caught fire on 9 June 2020 around noon
time, spreading the fire in an area of about 200 meters
around the well site. The cause of the fire has not been
ascertained till now," the petroleum ministry
statement said. "The debris of burnt rig, fire engines
and other material around the well site will be
removed before any operation can be started to cap
the well. Arrangements of continuous water supply will
have to be made before activities are undertaken at
the site which is likely to take 5-6 days to make these
arrangements, and all the operations will take about 4
weeks to complete," the statement added.
June 2020 16
for nylon films
OMO Chemicals, a leading producer of high-
Dquality engineering materials for a diverse range
of markets, has announced plans to stop and close its
third line of biaxally oriented polyamide (BOPA) films
from DOMO in Leuna (Germany), effective from August
2020. Affected employees have been informed and
other operations at the Leuna plant will not be
impacted by the move. The difficult decision was
reached as a result of global overcapacity for nylon
films.
Attilio Annoni, Managing Director at DFS states: “In
these extraordinary circumstances of high business
volatility, we have opted to continue to focus on
quality and flexibility through cautious and smart
asset management, rather than reacting with short-
term volume strategies.”With the acquisition of
Solvay's European PA66 business at the beginning of
this year, DOMO Chemicals has become a leading
integrated Nylon 6 and 66 player worldwide. Despite
the current market slowdown, which is affecting the
automotive and other industrial segments served by
DOMO's “Polymers & Intermediates” and “Engineering
Materials” units, the company remains on course to
achieve its global growth objectives. These include,
among others, the continued development of
sustainable solutions for customers, in accordance
with the highest corporate, social and environmental
responsibility standards. DOMO's Nylon Film business
remains a key asset. It forms an integral part of the
supply chains related to segments such as
pharmaceuticals, medical, and food packaging, which
have all proven to be so essential during the COVID-19
period.
Plastics News