Houston — Major petrochemical producers in Mexico were not impacted by a 5.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the state of Oaxaca early Thursday morning, sources said. State-owned Pemex did not experience problems at any of its refineries, with operations continuing without interruption, the company said. Likewise, Pemex's ethylene subsidiary -- Pemex Etileno -- also reported no issues at its Morelos and Cangrejera petrochemical plants, which house the company's steam crackers and polyethylene operations.
Fellow Mexican PE producer Braskem did not suffer damage or production interruptions at its plant in Veracruz and does not anticipate residual impact on distribution in the region.
Mexican polypropylene producer Indelpro reported no issues, with a company source citing the quake's epicenter and relatively low magnitude when saying there would be no impact on the industry.
Alpek, which produces purified terephthalic acid and polyethylene terephthalate, received no reports of impact at any of its nine Mexican plants, a company representative said.
The Mexican petrochemical industry experienced several production issues and disruptions following a September 2017 quake, although the magnitude was much higher at 8.2. The epicenter of that quake, however, was just 150 km from Pemex's Salina Cruz refinery, the largest in Mexico, and resulted in production being suspended despite the company saying there was no damage to the facilities at that time.
