chemXplore Cluster Watch

Northwest Europe

Europe's chemical core: what its 16 chemical clusters are building and closing, and the pipelines between them.

Counts as of 6 October 2026, recomputed daily

Active projects per cluster
Legend
Hydrogen CO2 Oil, gas and chemicals Heat and power planned or being built closed park   cluster

The chemical and refining sites of Northwest Europe are not a row of separate places. They sit in clusters that share feedstock, products and energy through pipelines and grids, so what is built or closed in one is felt in the others. At the centre is ARRRA, the Antwerp–Rotterdam–Rhine–Ruhr area, with Chemelot in its middle; further out lie the Central German chemical triangle, Ludwigshafen, the Lower Elbe and the Seine axis. This page shows those clusters and the networks between them, with the projects chemXplore tracks in each.

For subscribers

Behind these numbers: 144 active projects, each in full

This page counts them. A subscription opens each one: capacity, investment and expected start-up dates. Contractors, licensors, and offtakers are recorded on 89 of these 144 projects. Search, filter and export them, and get an alert when one moves.

The 16 clusters

By active projects

Rhine-Ruhr

DE

30 active of 123 · 12 parks · 18 networks

Details

Rotterdam-Moerdijk

NL

29 active of 70 · 2 parks · 20 networks

Details

Antwerp

BE

15 active of 74 · 2 parks · 14 networks

Details

Ludwigshafen-Mannheim

DE

14 active of 70 · 2 parks · 5 networks

Details

Eemsdelta and Emmen

NL

13 active of 34 · 2 parks · 3 networks

Details

North Sea Port

NL · BE

13 active of 32 · 2 parks · 12 networks

Details

Chemelot

NL

9 active of 28 · 1 park · 6 networks

Details

Lower Elbe

DE

9 active of 18 · 3 parks · 11 networks

Details

Seine axis

FR

8 active of 26 · 3 parks · 8 networks

Details

Wilhelmshaven

DE

8 active of 10 · 1 park · 6 networks

Details

Frankfurt-Höchst

DE

7 active of 35 · 1 park · 3 networks

Details

North Sea Canal area

NL

6 active of 12 · 1 park · 4 networks

Details

Central German chemical triangle

DE

5 active of 31 · 4 parks · 10 networks

Details

Dunkirk

FR

4 active of 8 · 1 park · 9 networks

Details

Lausitz

DE

2 active of 10 · 2 parks · 1 network

Details

Flemish inland

BE

1 active of 18 · 1 park · 4 networks

Details

What the map shows

A cluster is an area on the map, and every site chemXplore tracks inside it counts, whether or not it sits on a park. A project counts in a cluster when its plant is there, or when it builds a network that runs through it. Active projects are announced, and what they build is not yet operating. A closure is counted as a closure: a site or unit stopping for good, whatever its size.

Lines follow their real route where open data has it, and run straight between the places they connect where it does not. The natural gas and power transmission grids, which reach every cluster, are not drawn.