Houston—Texas petrochemical producers continued on March 1 restart efforts at plants shut during sustained sub-freezing temperatures the week of Feb. 15, with much attention focused on bringing olefin plants back online to provide critical feedstocks for derivatives.
"It's going to be a while" before production chains resume normal output, a market source said, noting that inspections involve a process of discovery "to determine if everything is okay."Multiple sources noted that process has been deliberate given the sheer magnitude of pipes and equipment exposed to frigid temperatures that rarely hit the region for at least 72 hours straight as they did the week of Feb. 15.
"Many complexes are interdependent operations, so they have to start up sequentially," a source noted. If one unit in such a production chain is unable to restart at the same time, others have to wait.
"It is what it is and you've got to be patient," the source added.
At its height, the freeze took about 75% of 40 million mt/year of US ethylene capacity offline, with the vast majority along the Texas Coast. Some has resumed operations, while others remain shut amid inspections or have faced ups and downs during restart efforts, market sources said.
Prompt FD Mont Belvieu ethylene prices have risen 40% since Feb. 16, and prompt FD Choctaw ethylene prices have climbed 29% since that date, S&P Global Platts data showed.
Here is a rundown of the fallout from the freeze:
FORCE MAJEURES**Dow Chemical: Declared Feb. 19, on 2-ethylhexanol and butanol products from its Texas City, Texas complex
**Formosa Plastics USA: Declared Feb. 19 on US polyethylene
**BASF: Declared Feb. 19 on dioctyl terephthalate (DOTP), a plasticizer, at its Pasadena, Texas, site
**Westlake Chemical: Declared Feb. 19 on US caustic soda, chlorine, PVC and VCM; company has 2.9 million mt/year of US caustic soda capacity, more than 2 million mt/year of PVC capacity, 2.6 million mt/year of VCM; more than 2.26 million mt/year of chlorine capacity at five affected sites
**Formosa Plastics USA: Declared Feb. 18 on US PVC, 1.3 million mt/year of capacity at Point Comfort, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, complexes.
**Dow Chemical: Declared Feb. 18 on multiple intermediate chemicals produced at plants in Deer Park, Freeport, Texas City and Bayport Texas, Hahnville, Louisiana, and Louisville, Kentucky; declaration includes vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), methyl methacrylate (MMA), glacial methacrylic acid (GMAA), butyl methacrylate (BMA), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), 2-ethylhexyl Acrylate (2EHA), butyl acrylate (BA), and others; Dow informed South American customers
**Celanese: Declared force majeure Feb. 18 on multiple intermediate chemicals normally sold to customers in the US, Europe and the Middle East, including acetic acid, VAM, ethyl acetate and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)
**Total: Declared Feb. 17 on polypropylene produced at its 1.15 million mt/year La Porte, Texas, facility
**Formosa Plastics USA: Declared Feb. 17 on all chlor-alkali products
**LyondellBasell: Declared Feb. 16 on styrene monomer
**Vestolit: Declared Feb. 16 on PVC produced at its Colombia and Mexico plants on lack of upstream vinyl chloride monomer feedstock from US suppliers; plants have a combined 1.8 million mt/year of capacity
**Olin: Declared Feb. 16 on US chlorine, caustic soda, ethylene dichloride, epoxy, hydrochloric acid and other products produced at its Freeport, Texas, complex; ; on Feb. 18 Olin expanded the declaration in a separate letter to customers to include products made system-wide
**MEGlobal: Declared Feb. 15 on MEG produced at its Freeport, Texas, site
**LyondellBasell: Declared Feb. 15 on US polyethylene
**Flint Hills Resources: Declared Feb. 15 on polypropylene produced at Longview, Texas
**OxyChem: Declared Feb. 15 on US chlorine, caustic soda, EDC, vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride.
**LyondellBasell: Declared Feb. 15 on US polypropylene
**INEOS Olefins and Polymers USA: Declared Feb. 15 on polypropylene
**OQ Chemicals: Declared Feb. 15 on US oxo-alcohols, aldehydes, acids and esters produced at its Bat City, Texas, operations
SHUTDOWNS**Westlake Chemical: 331,763 mt/year cracker, 249,475 mt/year chlorine, 274,423 mt/year caustic soda, 680,388 mt/year vinyl chloride monomer, 680,388 mt/year polyvinyl chloride, Calvert City, Kentucky
**Eastman Chemical: 730,000 mt/year ethylene capacity, Longview, Texas
**INEOS: 1.89 million mt/year of ethylene capacity, Chocolate Bayou, Texas
**LyondellBasell: 3.26 million mt/year of ethylene capacity in Channelview, La Porte and Corpus Christi, Texas
**MEGlobal: 750,000 mt/year monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant, Freeport, Texas
**Total: 1.15 million mt/year PP, La Porte, Texas
**Lotte Chemical: 700,000 mt/year MEG, Lake Charles, Louisiana; 1 million mt/year joint-venture cracker
**Braskem: 450,000 mt/year PP La Porte, Texas; 225,000 mt/year PP Seadrift, Texas
**ExxonMobil: Cumulative 1.53 million mt/year from three units, HDPE and LLDPE capacity, Mont Belvieu, Texas
**Indorama Ventures: Port Neches, Texas, 235,867 mt/year cracker, 1 million mt/year ethylene oxide/MEG unit, 238,135 mt/year propylene oxide unit, and 988,000 mt/year of MTBE capacity; Clear Lake, Texas, 435,000 mt/year EO, 358,000 mt/year MEG.
**Olin: Freeport, Texas complex, with 3 million mt/year of caustic soda and 2.73 million mt/year of chlorine capacity; 748,000 mt/year of EDC
**OxyChem: Ingleside, Texas, 544,000 mt/year cracker; 248,000 mt/year chlor-alkali; 680,000 mt/year EDC; Deer Park and Pasadena, Texas, 1.27 million mt in PVC capacity; 1.79 million mt/year of VCM capacity; 580,000 mt/year chlor-alkali
**Shintech: Freeport, Texas: 1.45 million mt/year PVC
**Formosa Plastics USA: Entire Point Comfort, Texas, complex, including three crackers with a cumulative capacity of 2.76 million mt/year; 875,000 mt/year of high density polyethylene; 400,000 mt/year of low density PE; 465,000 mt/year of linear low density PE; two PP units with combined capacity of 1.7 million mt/year; 798,000 mt/year of PVC; 1 million mt/year of caustic soda and 910,000 mt/year of chlorine; 753,000 mt/year of VCM; 1.478 million mt/year of EDC; and a cumulative 1.17 million mt/year of monoethylene glycol operated by sister company Nan Ya Plastics.
**Dow Chemical: Certain units offline within Dow sites along the US Gulf Coast, but the company did not specify. Dow's Gulf Coast operations two LDPE units with 552,000 mt/year and 186,000 mt/year HDPE; Dow's Seadrift, Texas, complex includes 490,000 mt/year LLDPE and 390,000 mt/year HDPE; Dow told South American customers in a letter dated Feb. 16 that the company was assessing impact on PE production capacity "and we know that our ability to supply various products could be affected."
**TPC Group: Houston site shut down, including 544,310 mt/year butadiene unit, when boilers lost steam
**Shell: Deer Park, Texas, refining and chemical complex, including two crackers with a combined 961,000 mt/year of capacity
**Chevron Phillips Chemical: Pasadena, Texas, 998,000 mt/year HDPE; also has cumulative 5.35 million mt/year in capacity of six crackers in Port Arthur, Baytown and Sweeny, Texas
RESTARTS**Braskem: 360,000 mt/year PP Freeport, Texas; 400,000 mt/year PP La Porte, Texas
**Motiva Chemicals: Port Arthur, 635,000 mt/year mixed-feed cracker
**Shell: Norco, Louisiana, refining and chemical complex, including two crackers with a combined capacity of 1.42 million mt/year
**Baystar Polymers: Restarting 408,000 mt/year HDPE unit at Bayport, Texas
**Dow Chemical: Restarting three crackers at Freeport, Texas, with a combined 3.2 million mt/year of ethylene capacity
**Flint Hills Resources: Restarting 658,000 mt/year PDH unit, Houston
**Dow Chemical: Restarting 750,000 PDH, Freeport, Texas
**Braskem: Restarting 450,000 mt/year PP, La Porte, Texas
**Dow Chemical: restarting 680,000 mt/year cracker in Orange, Texas
**ExxonMobil: Beaumont, Texas, restart activity begun; 826,000 mt/year cracker operational; 225,000 mt/year HDPE; 240,000 mt/year LDPE; 1.19 million mt/year LLDPE with some HDPE capacity
**ExxonMobil: Baytown, Texas, restart activity begun; three crackers with a combined capacity of 3.8 million mt/year; 800,000 mt/year PP
**Sasol: 380,000 mt/year EO/MEG, Lake Charles, Louisiana
**Formosa Plastics USA: 513,000 mt/year PVC, 653,000 mt/year VCM, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
**LyondellBasell: Lake Charles, Louisiana, joint-venture 470,000 mt/year LLDPE; 420,000 mt/year LDPE
PRICES**March US polymer-grade prices fell 0.50 cents/lb March 1 to 85 cents/lb FD USG, while April prices fell 0.50 cents/lb to 76.25 cents/lb FD USG. Prompt PGP prices have plunged 32.8% since reaching an all-time high of $1.25/lb FD USG on Feb. 23, while forward-month prices have sunk 19.7% since hitting 95 cents/lb FD USG on that date, S&P Global Platts data showed.
**US prompt spot ethylene prices for March rose 3.25 cents on the day March 1 to 56 cents/lb FD Mont Belvieu, while forward-month April ethylene was assessed at 56 cents/lb FD Mont Belvieu, also up 3.25 cents on the day. March Choctaw ethylene was assessed at 55 cents/lb FD Choctaw, up 2.50 cents on the day March 1, while forward-month April ethylene was assessed at 54.25 cents/lb, up 2.50 cents on the day.
