Westlake reports explosion near Lake Charles storage tank; fire under control

An explosion near a petrochemicals storage tank occurred Jan. 26 at Westlake Chemical's complex in Lake Charles, Louisiana, according to the company.

Televised video showed a massive black plume of smoke rising from the explosion site.

In a statement, Westlake said the "industrial accident" was "in the vicinity of a storage tank that had been taken out of service for maintenance. The fire was quickly brought under control."

KPLC-TV in Lake Charles reported that plant officials said the storage tank was empty, but was normally used to store ethylene dichloride.

Westlake spokesperson Joe Andrepont also told KPLC-TV that shelter-in-place orders imposed shortly after the explosion occurred at 10:45 am CT had since been lifted. Injuries had been reported, with one person treated onsite and five others taken to area hospitals, according to the station, citing Andrepont.

Westlake said the cause of the explosion was under investigation. The company did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether any production units at the complex had been shut.

EDC is an intermediate in the production chain for construction staple polyvinyl chloride, which is used to make pipes, window frames, vinyl siding and other products. EDC is produced from reacting chlorine with ethylene, and is used to make vinyl chloride monomer, the direct precursor to PVC.

Westlake has a 671,000 mt/year EDC unit at the Lake Charles complex. The complex also has two VCM plants with a combined capacity of 952,543 mt/year, and three upstream chlor-alkali units with a combined capacity to produce 1.27 million mt/year of chlorine and 1.36 million mt/year of caustic soda.

Chlorine is the first link in the PVC production chain and caustic soda, a byproduct of chlorine production, is a key feedstock for alumina and pulp and paper industries.