Formosa expects US cracker start-up, PE commercial ops in H2 2019

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Formosa Plastics Corporation USA intends to achieve “steady state commercial operations” at its two new polyethylene (PE) plants in Point Comfort, Texas during the second half of 2019, the producer said on Wednesday.

Its third olefins plant at Point Comfort is under construction, and “gas feed” is expected also in the second half of 2019. The cracker will have a capacity of 1.25m tonnes/year.

For the PE plants, one will have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year of low density PE (LDPE). The other will be able to produce both high density PE (HDPE) and linear low density PE (LLDPE), with a combined capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year.

Formosa said on Wednesday that its new polypropylene (PP) plant at Point Comfort is under construction, with steady state commercial operations expected in the second half of 2020.

The PP III unit will add 250,000 tonnes/year to the site’s PP production.

Formosa is also expanding production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by 300m lb (136,000 tonnes/year) at its Baton Rouge facility in Louisiana.

The company said on Wednesday that steady state commercial operations is expected during the fourth quarter of 2021.

(recasts  in paragraph two with cracker capacity)

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