US spot ethylene and propylene pricing rose modestly Monday, with the latter hitting 4 1/2-month highs, amid production shutdowns along the Texas coast due to Harvey.
Spot ethylene for prompt delivery was assessed at 26.50 cents/lb ($584.22/mt) FD USG, up 0.75 cent or 2.9% from Friday. The level was the highest in nearly two months, per S&P Global Platts data.
More than 40% of US ethylene capacity and about 28% of polyethylene capacity remained shut Monday as Harvey dumped devastating rainfall on the middle and upper Texas coastline.
Upward pressure from the outages was being partially offset by lack of downstream demand, as many polymer plants also were shut along the US Gulf Coast region.
Spot propylene also gained, with refinery-grade propylene assessed at 31.50 cents/lb ($694.45/mt) FD USG, up 1 cent/lb from Friday. Spot polymer-grade propylene closed at 43.50 cents/lb, also up 1 cent, on offers at 45 cents/lb. Both propylene assessments were at 4 1/2-month highs, according to S&P Global Platts data.
Olefins units in at least eight petrochemical complexes were taken offline between Thursday and Monday, shutting nearly 11.4 million mt/year (25 billion lb/year) of ethylene capacity. Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane late Friday and has continued to plague the area with heavy rains and flooding as a tropical storm.
US ethylene capacity totals 26.7 million mt/year, with several new crackers set to come online before the end of this year. A typical cracker consumes about 60,000-90,000 b/d of ethane.
Major olefins complexes under shutdown along the Texas coast include LyondellBasell's La Porte and Corpus Christi facilities, ExxonMobil Baytown, Ineos Chocolate Bayou in Alvin, Shell Deer Park, Chevron Phillips Chemical in Sweeny and Baytown, Formosa Plastics in Point Comfort and OxyChem-Mexichem in Ingleside, Texas.
