06 Oct 2020 | 17:59 UTC — Houston

Westlake slowly ramping up chlor-alkali output in Lake Charles post-storm: sources

Highlights

Full load power restored for industrial use

Chlor-alkali restarts the first in the PVC chain

Houston — Westlake Chemical has restarted limited production at its three chlor-alkali plants in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the first step toward restoring downstream production of intermediates in the polyvinyl chloride chain, market sources said Oct. 6.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Sources said Entergy, the main power provider in the region, had restored full load power, allowing Westlake and other major petrochemical operators to fully assess possible damage from Hurricane Laura's Aug. 27 assault. The storm came ashore near the Texas-Louisiana state line, and Lake Charles took a direct hit.

Westlake shut its Lake Charles operations ahead of Laura's landfall, and declared force majeure on Aug. 31 on vinyl chloride monomer and PVC, according to a customer letter obtained by S&P Global Platts. That force majeure remained in effect on Oct. 6.

Westlake's PVC operations in Lake Charles include three chlor-alkali plants with a combined capacity of 1.27 million mt/year of chlorine and 1.36 million mt/year of caustic soda; two vinyl chloride monomer plants with a combined capacity of 952,543 mt/year; and a 1.8 million mt/year ethylene dichloride plant.

While Westlake does not produce PVC at Lake Charles, the VCM produced at the complex feeds PVC output at its Geismar and Plaquemine operations elsewhere in the state.

Sources said Westlake was running the chlor-alkali operations near 50% capacity on Oct. 6, slowly ramping up, and would subsequently restart the downstream plants to bring the entire chain back online.

"Everybody is just doing it gradually," a source said.


Editor: