The European Commission said it will actively engage in strategic dialogue with the European chemicals industry to help it manage high energy prices and the costs of modernisation and transition. Calls for action and support have grown as more plant closures are announced and many businesses and assets are considered at risk.
"I believe we will be able to develop a plan. It will take the necessary form, though I have no announcements to make at this stage," Stephane Sejourne, the EU commissioner responsible for prosperity and industrial strategy, told Argus.
"We are starting at the level of the commissioners. That being said, the industry will, of course, be present, and we intend to develop sectoral plans with all stakeholders. We will need to examine with stakeholders how we can modernise this sector and invest in it, given the shrinking margins caused by international competition and the high energy prices in Europe," he said.
Sejourne said the plan is to "define the key challenges and the possible shape of the relevant legislative texts, while maintaining the same approach as with other sectors". Business plans will be the priority of the discussions, rather than new sectoral regulations, he said, adding that the aim is to enhance the competitiveness of the sector.
"Simplification, harmonisation, modernisation and financing will take precedence over regulation," he said.
Sejourne said he has discussed with EU ministers "the urgent need to modernise steam crackers, which are over 40 years old in Europe". These units are "environmentally inefficient, underperforming and do not enhance the sector's competitiveness", he said.
The chemicals industry will be "crucial" for other industries, Sejourne said. "As part of the reindustrialisation efforts that have been launched and the announcements made by the commission, we will need the chemical industry."
Critical Chemicals Act
Sejourne's comments came after eight European countries called for measures to support the production of key chemicals in the EU as the bloc faces pressure from rising costs and competition. The proposed "EU Critical Chemicals Act" would support the development and decarbonisation of existing chemical plants while fostering alternative carbon sources, the eight countries said.
Signatory countries — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and France — highlighted 18 molecules as key to European strategic value chains, five of which they labelled as critical.
The list includes ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylene, phenol, styrene, ammonia, methanol, chlorine, sodium hydroxide, sulphur, silicon, sodium carbonates, hydrofluoric acid, methionine and lysine. Those singled out as critical were ethylene, butadiene, benzene, ammonia and sodium carbonates.
The signatories welcomed the EU's recent "Clean Industrial Deal", a plan to turn decarbonisation into a driver of EU growth, but argued that the chemical industry needs support to successfully decarbonise. Full decarbonisation of a single steam cracker can cost more than €1bn, highlighting the scale of investment required, the eight countries said.
The European Council adopted the Critical Raw Materials Act in March 2024, which aims to protect supply chains for rare metals. Similar measures are needed for the chemical industry because they are essential to core industries including defence, health and construction, argued the signatories.
Plant closures have accelerated in Europe. Last year, ExxonMobil closed its Gravenchon cracker in France and Sabic closed one of its two crackers in Geleen in the Netherlands. Eni's Versalis subsidiary will close its two remaining crackers in Italy this year. And US firm Dow has idled one of its three crackers in Terneuzen in the Netherlands. At least three other crackers in the region have been put for sale by their owners.
Besides steam crackers, many more chemical and downstream derivatives units have either been closed, are operating at low rates or are up for strategic review or sale.
