US LyondellBasell declares force majeure on ethylene

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US producer LyondellBasell declared force majeure on ethylene out of its La Porte cracker in Texas, sources said on Wednesday.

The initial declaration was made on 7 July because of ongoing production issues at Lyondell’s cracker, sources said.

The cracker has been down since 23 March and was scheduled for an 80-day turnaround to add 363,000 tonnes/year of ethylene capacity.

The cracker is expected to restarted at the end of July, with an ethylene capacity of 1.152m tonnes/year.

Also, LyondellBasell has declared force majeure on high density polyethylene (HDPE) producer produced from its plants in Matagorda and Victoria, Texas, sources said.