Houston — BP is evacuating non-essential personnel ahead of Hurricane Florence's arrival while continuing operations at its 1.5 million mt/year purified terephthalic acid plant in Cooper River, South Carolina, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
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Зарегистрироваться сейчас"BP is evacuating all non-essential personnel in accordance with Governor [Henry] McMaster's order," spokesman Michael Abendhoff said in an email to S&P Global Platts. "A small number of essential staff will remain in place to ensure continued safe operations."
The company was monitoring weather conditions before determining its next steps, Abendhoff said.
BP's plant, located near Charleston, is the largest PTA facility in the US. PTA is a precursor to polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a resin commonly used in the production of fibers and food and beverage containers.
PET producer Indorama Ventures, which has plants in the Carolinas, continued to operate its facilities Wednesday, noting in a statement that both plants are some 300 miles inland and flooding was not expected.
Indorama's facilities are in Asheboro, North Carolina, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, and can produce a combined 653,000 mt/year of PET, according to Platts data.
The company also said all outside storage had been secured, and the plants could be shut safely within a few hours.
Indorama also said it has adequate supplies to safely continue production and had informed customers in an effort aid advanced planning and avoid any shortage of product.
The Carolinas are home to more than 4 million mt/year of PET capacity, which is split between producers DAK Americas, Indorama and Nan Ya Plastics.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the only PET plant shutting down was DAK America's 600,000 mt/year facility in Charleston, a person with knowledge of operations said.
DAK Americas also operates plants in Columbia, South Carolina, and Fayetteville, North Carolina.
As of 5 pm EDT (2100 GMT), Florence was barreling down toward the Carolinas as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The eye of the storm was located some 400 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, and expected to slow on approach before making landfall Friday.
In pricing, US PET prices were stable Wednesday, with the domestic marker assessed at $1,873-$1,895/mt (85-86 cents/lb), with sources talking the market in the mid-80s cents/lb range even as sellers push for September increases of 5-7 cents/lb.
--Kevin Allen, kevin.allen@spglobal.com
--Bernardo Fallas, bernardo.fallas@spglobal.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron.greenhalgh@spglobal.com