UpdateGustav sparks US chlor-alkali FMs

05 September 2008 21:39  [Source: ICIS news]

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HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Three major US caustic soda producers with production facilities in Louisiana have declared force majeure (FM) in the wake of Hurricane Gustav, sources said on Friday.

Occidental Chemical and Georgia Gulf declared FM on caustic soda this week after the storm disrupted production, company sources said. Spokesmen for the companies did not immediately return phone calls.

PPG Industries also declared FM on caustic soda and chlorine, spokesperson Jeremy Neuhart said.

“Although the company anticipates that the force majeure will be of a short duration, it cannot provide a specific date when it will be lifted,” Neuhart said.

Some of the largest US chlor-alkali plants are in Louisiana, and 40-45% of US chlor-alkali production capacity is currently offline, mostly due to power outages caused by the storm, market sources said.

Supply conditions in caustic soda markets around the world are severely tight, and major producers including Dow Chemical, Formosa Plastics and Olin have previously declared FM or sales allocation due to the shortage.

OxyChem’s three plants in Taft, Geismar, and Convent, Louisiana, were shut down and there was no word on when they would resume production, a source close to the company said. Those plants have a combined caustic soda production capacity of about 1.1m tonnes/year.

Georgia Gulf shut down its 410,000 tonne/year plant in Plaquemine, near the Louisiana state capital Baton Rouge, sources said. PPG shut down its 1.27m tonne/year plant in Lake Charles.

Other plant outages caused by Hurricane Gustav occurred at Louisiana chlor-alkali plants operated by Olin in St. Gabriel and Dow and Shintech in Plaquemine, sources said.

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By: Greg Holt
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