Snake causes power outage at Chevron Phillips Texas PE plant

20 June 2011 16:00  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--A snake caused Chevron Phillips Chemical to lose power at one of its polyethylene (PE) units at its Cedar Bayou plant in Texas, according to information made available on Monday.

The unit experienced a complete power outage on Friday after the power breaker was tripped by a snake, according to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

The unit was restarted after two hours, Chevron Phillip said in the regulatory filing. A spokesman said that the company declined to comment on operations at the Cedar Bayou facility.

“Snakes can cause shorts in substations,” a market source said. Another source said a snake was responsible for bringing down a vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plant in south Texas in 2010.

The company has a 372,000 tonne/year capacity high density PE (HDPE) unit, a 280,000 tonne/year capacity linear low density (LDPE) unit and a 350,000/tonne linear low density (LLDPE) unit at the site, according to ICIS plants and projects.

Additional reporting by William Lemos.

Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database

By: Michelle Klump
+1 713 525 2653

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly