Factbox: Louisiana petrochemical restarts beginning post-Ida

Louisiana petrochemical producers were regaining access to power and continuing damage assessments in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida's wrath on Aug. 31. While some could begin restart activity, others remained shut awaiting critical feedstock supply, according to companies and sources familiar with company operations.

ExxonMobil's chemical complex in Baton Rouge was "safely progressing restart procedures," as units did not sustain significant damage during the storm, spokesperson Sarah Nordin said Aug. 31.

Olin, the world's largest chlor-alkali producer, said "many" of its US Gulf Coast facilities were "operating at reduced rates as a precautionary action and in response to limited logistics capabilities," but did not specify which plants.

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Shintech, the largest US polyvinyl chloride producer, had power at its Louisiana facilities, but they remained shut on a lack of access to industrial gases needed to operate. Formosa Plastics USA had the same issue at its Baton Rouge PVC facilities - access to power, but a third-party nitrogen supplier still lacked power to move feedstock to Formosa via pipeline.

Still others continued detailed damage assessments. Shell said Aug. 31 that its Norco site, home to two crackers, lost power and had evidence of "some building damage." The company said a startup would begin when safe to do so.

Entergy, the major power provider in the region, said Aug. 31 that damage to eight high-voltage transmission lines took out power in parishes in southeast Louisiana, including the city of New Orleans. Those parishes are southeast of others that house petrochemical centers along the Mississippi River, which market sources said could bode well for restarts in the coming days if facilities escaped notable damage.

However, supply interruptions could further squeeze supply that already was tight before the storm as producers had struggled to rebuild inventories after a deep-freeze hit the US Gulf Coast in mid-February.

Ida's assault forced shutdowns of 4.04 million mt/year of chlorine and 4.4 million mt/year of caustic soda production in plants along the river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and it was unclear when production would resume.

Demand has been strong for all products made with chlorine, from construction staple PVC to hydrochloric acid, refrigerants, bleach and water treatment. Caustic soda demand for paper products also has strengthened as workers return to offices and schools reopen.

The US caustic soda market "was already narrow from a supply/demand standpoint with producers operating under limited inventories," a market source said. "Given where this hurricane landed, it will make a difficult balance impossible. The market will be short and it will be some time before balance recovers."

Here is a rundown on the status of plants affected by Ida:

RESTARTS

Baton Rouge

**ExxonMobil chemical complex: 1 million mt/year cracker; 400,000 mt/year HDPE; 400,000 mt/year LDPE; 900,000 mt/year LLDPE; 410,000 mt/year polypropylene

SHUTDOWNS

Baton Rouge

**Formosa Plastics USA: 513,000 mt/year PVC; 653,000 mt/year vinyl chloride monomer

Plaquemine

**Dow Chemical: 1 million mt/year and 500,000 mt/year crackers; 750,000 mt/year HDPE; 184,000 mt/year and 350,000 mt/year LDPE; 544,000 mt/year LLDPE

**Shintech: 500,000 mt/year cracker; 600,000 mt/year PVC; 1.77 million mt/year VCM; 2 million mt/year ethylene dichloride; 1.16 million mt/year chlorine; 1.28 million mt/year caustic soda

**Westlake Chemical: 861,826 mt/year PVC; 725,747 mt/year VCM; 1.15 million mt/year EDC; 426,376 mt/year chlorine; 453,592 mt/year caustic soda

**Olin: 850,000 mt/year chlorine; 934,066 mt/year caustic soda

Addis

**Shintech: 900,000 mt/year PVC

Geismar

**Westlake Chemical: 520,000 mt/year PVC; 625,000 mt/year EDC; 317,514 mt/year chlorine; 349,266 mt/year caustic soda

**NOVA Chemical: 977,000 mt/year cracker

**OxyChem: 315,000 mt/year EDC; 353,000 mt/year chlorine; 387,912 mt/year caustic soda

**Methanex: Two methanol units, each 1 million mt/year

Convent

**OxyChem: 613,000 mt/year EDC; 353,000 mt/year chlorine; 387,912 mt/year caustic soda

Taft

**Dow Chemical: 750,000 mt/year HDPE; 800,000 mt/year LLDPE

**OxyChem: 680,000 mt/year chlorine; 747,252 mt/year caustic soda

Norco

**Shell Chemical: 625,000 mt/year and 930,000 mt/year crackers

St. Gabriel

**Olin: 250,000 mt/year chlorine; 274,725 mt/year caustic soda

Garyville

**Pinnacle Polymers: 430,000 mt/year PP

Carville

**CosMar: Two styrene units, each 579,000 mt/year

St. James

**YCI: Methanol unit, 1.7 million mt/year

Americas Styrenics, two lines, 499,000 mt/year and 453,000 mt/year

FORCE MAJEURES

**Pinnacle Polymers: Declared Aug. 30 for all products due to impacts of the storm.

PRICES

**US methanol prices were assessed up 1 cent/gal day on day Aug. 31 at 130 cents/gal.

**US spot ethylene prices were assessed up 1.50 cents/lb day on day Aug. 31 at 41.25 cents/lb FD Mont Belvieu, while the FD Choctaw marker was assessed up 2.50 cents/lb at 50.75 cents/lb.