MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures (IVL; Bangkok, Thailand) says a lightning strike on 1 August at its steam cracker at Westlake, Louisiana, resulted in a plant trip of the facility and subsequent flaring, reported Chemweek.
The plant is currently offline and being assessed by personnel. All appropriate regulatory officials have been notified, it says. There is no danger to the site, employees, or surrounding community, it adds.
The facility, which has an ethylene production capacity of 440,000 metric tons/year, is covered by a comprehensive insurance policy, Indorama says. The olefins gas cracker, operated by IVL's subsidiary Indorama Ventures Olefins LLC, began commercial production operations in January this year.
As MRC informed earlier, in March 2020, Indorama Ventures Limited announced that the company decided to extend the pre-construction period of the purified terephthalic acid-polyethylene terephthalate (PTA-PET) plant in Corpus Christi, Texas through the end of 2020. Christi Polymers LLC (CCP), a joint venture among certain subsidiaries of Indorama Ventures Holding, Alpek and Far Eastern Investment (Holding) Limited was created to acquire and complete construction of an integrated PTA-PET plant in Corpus Christi. The completion of the project is expected to be in 2023.
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, listed in Thailand, is one of the world's leading petrochemicals producers, a global manufacturing footprint with 59 sites in 20 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The company's portfolio is comprises necessities and high value-added (HVA) categories of polymers, fibers, and packaging. Indorama Ventures has approx. 24,000 employees worldwide and consolidated revenue of USD 11.4 billion in 2019.
MRC