INEOS Phenol Declares Force Majeure on Phenol and Acetone After German Refinery Fire

INEOS Phenol, the world's largest producer of phenol and acetone, has declared force majeure on the supply of both products and introduced a sales allocation system to manage limited availability among its customers. The measure follows a disruption to feedstock deliveries feeding the company's European phenol operations.

The trigger was a fire at BP's Gelsenkirchen refinery in western Germany on the evening of 15 July 2026. The blaze broke out at the Scholven site during a heatwave affecting the region. The integrated refinery and petrochemical complex processes around 12 million tonnes of crude oil per year and supplies fuels along with feedstock used across the German and wider European chemical industry.

That feedstock link is what connects a refinery fire to a phenol shortage. Gelsenkirchen is a key source of benzene and cumene for INEOS. Benzene from the BP complex feeds the INEOS cumene unit at Marl, and that cumene is then converted into phenol and acetone at the company's Gladbeck plant. When the fire interrupted these upstream flows, INEOS could no longer secure enough raw material to keep phenol and acetone output at contracted levels, which led to the force majeure declaration and the allocation policy.

Gladbeck sits at the center of the story. The site is the largest single-train phenol plant in the world and one of the largest phenol production locations globally, with capacity of around 650,000 tonnes per year of phenol and 400,000 tonnes per year of acetone. In June 2026 INEOS confirmed that Gladbeck would keep operating beyond 2027 and remain its primary European production hub, after the company postponed the restart of its idled Doel plant near Antwerp. That decision left Gladbeck carrying a larger share of regional supply, so any interruption there has an outsized effect on European availability.

The timing is difficult because the European phenol and acetone market was already tight before the fire. Through 2025 and into 2026 the region lost capacity as producers cut run rates or closed assets under pressure from high energy costs, carbon-related charges, and competition from lower-cost imports. Earlier in 2026 the market absorbed the insolvency of Domo Chemicals' Leuna operation and further reductions in operating rates, and acetone prices had already moved higher. The INEOS force majeure now lands on a market with little spare cushion.

Downstream, the buyers most exposed are producers of bisphenol-A, phenolic resins, polycarbonate resins, and solvents. These materials flow into automotive parts, construction products, electronics and circuit boards, wind turbine blades, and coatings. Under allocation, these customers receive reduced volumes and may need to draw down inventories, seek imports from Asia or the United States, or slow their own production while the situation lasts.

As of 27 July 2026 the force majeure remains active and the allocation is still in place. The duration depends on how quickly BP restores normal operations at Gelsenkirchen and how fast feedstock deliveries to Marl and Gladbeck return to routine levels. INEOS has not published a firm date for a full return to normal supply. Buyers and analysts are watching for confirmation that feedstock flows have stabilised, which would allow INEOS to lift the allocation and return to conventional supply terms.