US Trinseo shuts down plants after Michigan dam breaches

Al Greenwood

20-May-2020

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Like Dow, Trinseo is suspending operations at its US plants in Midland, Michigan, after the failure of two dams.

At Midland, Trinseo makes acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and latex, the company said.

Trinseo also makes styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) under a contract manufacturing agreement with Dow, according to the company’s annual report.

“Consistent with Dow, Trinseo is taking appropriate safety measures at its Midland, Michigan, site, including stopping its operations”, Trinseo said. “At this point, the full impact is still unknown.”

Like Trinseo, Dow started shutting down its Midland operations after the Edenville and Sanford dams were breached.

Dow makes glycol ethers and methyl chloride, among other chemicals, in Midland. The company’s headquarters have been based there since its foundation in 1897.

The shutdown of the glycol ethers plant has taken about 12% of the company’s US glycol ethers capacity offline, according to ICIS.

Amid the coronavirus slowdown, which has kept supply ample, the disruption is not expected to create any near-term supply strain.

“I don’t foresee any supply issues”, said a customer whose volume in April and May has been far below its seasonal norms.

Another glycol ethers buyer who is not supplied by Dow has neither heard of nor expects any immediate impact on the US market stemming from the Midland outage.

Regarding ABS, a source said demand for the resin is down, so he does not think that any shutdown would have an effect on US supply. Trinseo also has an ABS plant in Europe.

ABS is used in automobiles, and the end market has struggled as a result of plant shutdowns caused by the coronavirus.

After the two dams breached, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Midland County.

According to authorities, some parts of Midland could be under 2.7m (9ft) of water.

The following map shows the areas affected by the failed dams.

Map by Miguel Rodriguez-Fernandez

Additional reporting by Jonathan Lopez, Adam Yanelli and Larry Terry

The graphic below shows the main petrochemical sites in Midland

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