TotalEnergies Manufacturing Site at the port of Antwerpen ©Belga
TotalEnergies closes one of its two steam crackers in Antwerp, 253 jobs disappear "without layoffs"
Antwerpen, 22 April 2025 -- TotalEnergies will close one of its two steam crackers in the port of Antwerp, a decision that will impact more than 250 jobs. No forced layoffs will be announced, according to the energy group.
By 2028, the chemical cluster in the port of Antwerp will lose one of its three steam crackers. TotalEnergies has chosen to shut down its oldest Naphtha Cracker (NC2). The reason is a concerning overcapacity in the petrochemical market. Although 253 positions are affected by this closure, management seeks to reassure: no forced departures are on the horizon.
“We assure every employee of the affected steam cracker that they will be able to continue their activity at our Antwerp site,” says Ann Veraverbeke, CEO, in an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen. “This transition is possible because, by early 2028, 270 of our employees in Antwerp will reach the legal retirement age. The 253 employees from the old steam cracker will be essential to fill this wave of departures.”
Ethylene overcapacity
NC2, a petrochemical facility that transforms hydrocarbons into basic molecules used in the chemical industry, was “historically dependent” on a contract with a user of the ethylene produced, who did not wish to renew this contract, the French oil and gas group specified.
The facility “will no longer have outlets for its ethylene production” and TotalEnergies will “focus on its newest steam cracker (NC3), whose ethylene production is entirely consumed by TotalEnergies’ units in Antwerp and Feluy,” it added.
2017 Revamp of Naphtha Cracker 3
As part of a project to upgrade its refining and chemicals platform in Antwerp, TotalEnergies had started up a new ethylene cracker that runs on ethane feedstock in July 2017, investing nearly $60 million to revamp its Naphtha Cracker 3 to run on the light feed and the adaption of the site’s terminal to enable the import of 200,000 t of ethane per year by ship from Norway. The revamp was done to optimize supply by providing flexibility for the cracker to use either ethane, butane or naphtha as feedstock, so that advantaged feedstock could therefore account for more than 50% total input.
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