Total Petrochemicals announces unit restart in early February: company letter

New York — US polymer producer Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA announced an update to its Dec. 17 force majeure on copolymer polypropylene products from its La Porte, Texas, petrochemical complex, the company said Jan. 12.

"Repairs at our site in La Porte, Texas, continue to go extremely well and according to plan," Total Petrochemicals said in a Jan. 12 letter obtained by S&P Global Platts.

The restart of the unit is on schedule for Feb. 6, "with initial shipments beginning the following week," the company said.

In addition, Total Petrochemicals "expects to be back to normal production in early April," the letter said.

The plant has a total nameplate capacity of 1.15 million mt/year of polypropylene, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics data. The letter indicated that only the copolymer grade was affected.

The company was not available for comment Jan. 12.

Platts last assessed the co-polymer PP grade Jan 6. at $1,576/mt, up $66 based on talk of a 2-cent premium to homopolymer grades.