US Gulf polymer plants restarting following hurricane
Some US Gulf Coast polymer plants and rail lines are resuming operations following shutdowns as a result of Hurricane Beryl earlier in the week.
Multiple polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) units shut down pre-emptively before the storm, which came ashore in Matagorda, Texas, on 8 July, and many are still in the process of restarting.
Formosa Plastics had pre-emptively shut down operations at its Point Comfort, Texas, site, but did not receive any major damage from Hurricane Beryl. The site, including approximately 1.8mn t/yr of PE and 917,000 t/yr of PP production, is in the process of resuming operations with the end of next week as the target date for a complete return, the company said in a statement.
The status of multiple other PE and PP units in the region was not immediately available. Companies including Dow, Ineos, Braskem America, and LyondellBasell, which all had some units shut down during the storm, did not immediately respond to requests for operational updates.
In addition to plant outages, polymer producers had been experiencing transportation issues earlier in the week due to flooding, but the repair of Union Pacific's lines in the Galveston area yesterday has allowed rail operations to resume, according to a statement from the company. It will take several days to work through the remaining train congestion, and widespread power outages will likely continue to cause delays throughout the impacted area.
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