US petchems declare force majeures amid restart plans, Harvey floods

(recasts with updates throughout)

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Several more petrochemical companies in the US Gulf region have declared force majeure (FM) because of Hurricane/now Tropical Storm Harvey, even as some sites are planning restarts.

– BASF declares force majeure on acrylic monomers and oxo-alcohol.

– Celanese declares force majeure on vinyl acetate monomer (VAM).

– Formosa declares force majeure on polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

– Formosa declares force majeure on chlor-alkali.

– INEOS declares force majeure on polypropylene (PP) after the storm’s effects on Chocolate Bayou and La Porte.

– INVISTA declares force majeure on butanediol (BDO).

– LyondellBasell declares force majeure on polyethylene (PE) after shutdowns at Matagorda, Chocolate Bayou and La Porte.

– LyondellBasell declares force majeure on butadiene (BD) and butanediol (BDO) after production loss at Channelview.

– LyondellBasell declares force majeure on several products including ethylene oxide (EO), ethylene glycols (EG), propylene glycol (PG), glycol ethers, ethanolamines after issues at Bayport.

– LyondellBasell declares force majeure on acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) after issues at La Porte.

– Ascend declares force majeure on acrylonitrile (ACN), hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and disodium iminodiacetate (DSIDA) from Chocolate Bayou.

Meanwhile, several companies are planning restarts at their facilities:

– Enterprise Mont Belvieu fractionators.

– Flint Hills Corpus Christi west refinery and east refinery.

– Formosa Point Comfort olefins 1 and olefins 2.

-Valero Corpus Christi and Three Rivers refineries.

Previously, several companies had shut down or reduced operating rates as a precaution due to Harvey, or have had production issues stemming from severe weather, heavy rains and flooding.

– American Acryl shuts Bayport acrylic acid.

– Braskem shuts Seadrift polypropylene (PP).

– Celanese shuts Pasadena methanol.

– Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) shuts certain operations at Cedar Bayou and Sweeny, as well as other facilities as appropriate. Previously, the company said it was conducting a sitewide shutdown at Cedar Bayou.

– CP Chem shuts Pasadena Plastics Complex, which produces polyethylene (PE).

– Citgo shuts Corpus Christi refinery.

– Covestro reduces operations at Baytown methyl di-p phenylene isocyanate (MDI), toluene di-isocyanate (TDI), polycarbonate (PC), aniline and chlorine. Later, the company said it has suspended production on most products at Baytown and Channelview.

– Dow Chemical shuts Seadrift operations. The company said it remains operational at remaining Texas sites. However, it had a process upset at Freeport olefins after a lightning strike to another facility.

– DuPont shuts Orange olefins.

– Enterprise shuts Mont Belvieu south plant.

– Enterprise said three of six propylene splitters are in operation or in limited service.

– Enterprise shuts Shoup natural gas processing. Later, it said it shut six of eight natural gas processing plants, including Shoup.

– Enterprise’s ethane export terminal is out of service.

– Enterprise’s liquefied petroleum gas (LGP) export terminal is out of services.

– ExxonMobil shuts Baytown refinery and chemicals plant.

– ExxonMobil reduces rates at Beaumont refinery. The company later shut some units at its olefins and polyethylene (PE) site.

– Flint Hills Corpus Christi shuts east refiney and west refinery.

– Flint Hills Resources flares at Houston propane dehydrogentation (PDH).

– Flint Hills shuts Port Arthur olefins.

– Formosa shuts Point Comfort olefins 1 and olefins 2.

– Formosa shuts Point Comfort chlor-alkali.

– Hexion shuts Deer Park epoxy resin.

– Huntsman shuts Chocolate Bayou, Conroe, Dayton, Houston, Freeport and Port Neches sites.

– Indorama unit trips at Clear Lake ethylene oxide.

– INEOS has upset at Chocolate Bayou olefins 1 and 2.

– INEOS shuts Green Lake acrylonitrile.

– INVISTA shuts Victoria nylon intermediates.

– Javelina shuts Corpus Christi gas processing.

– LyondellBasell shuts Bayport, Chocolate Bayou, Corpus Christi, La Porte, Matagorda and Victoria sites. Previously, the company said it was conducting preparations at its Corpus Christi olefins plant.

– LyondellBasell shuts or partially shuts BD at Channelview.

– LyondellBasell scaled back operations at its Houston refinery.

– LyondellBasell had a power supply interruption at Channelview olefins and methanol. Earlier, market sources said the company had shut down one of its two crackers.

– Marathon shuts Texas City refinery.

– Motiva reduces rates at Port Arthur refinery.

– Petrobras shuts Pasadena refinery.

– Phillips 66 suspended operations at its Freeport terminal, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) export, and Pasadena refined products terminal.

– Phillips 66 shuts Sweeny refinery.

– Shell shuts Deer Park refinery and chemicals plant.

– Occidental Chemical (OxyChem)/OxyVinyls shuts Ingleside ethylene and chlor-alkali.

– TPC boilers trip at Houston butadiene (BD) site.

– Valero shuts Corpus refineries and Three Rivers refinery.

Meanwhile:

– DuPont is down at its Victoria site for a previously planned outage. It will commence start-up activities when the weather improves.

– INEOS discovered a heat exchanger tube leak at its Pasadena site. Repairs are unable to commence until weather risks pass.

– Texas ports remain closed, and several railroad companies have issued embargoes or suspended operations.

To view an interactive map of petrochemical plants in Texas, click here. Use the drop-down menu to see plants by products, and zoom in to see more details.