|
MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol Chemicals North
America declared force majeure on all polyethylene (PE) products Aug. 31,
including linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high
density polyethylene (HDPE) grades at their Texas and Louisiana
manufacturers in light of Hurricane Laura's assault on Aug. 27, according to a
letter to customers obtained by S&P
Global.
Sasol's Lake Charles, Louisiana complex is home to 470,000
mt/year LLDPE plant that started up in February 2019 and a 420,000 mt/year low
density polyethylene (LDPE) unit that was damaged by fire during commissioning
in January and has remained shut for repairs.
"Sasol's Lake Charles
Chemical Complex shut down on Aug. 25 in anticipation of the storm," the letter
said.
"Many of the company's employees and contractors followed the
mandatory evacuation order and have not been able to return yet, the letter
stated.
"At this time, the damage and impact on a restart-schedule is
being assessed," and the company is working toward restoring its operations to
normal levels, the letter stated.
The company was not available for
immediate comment at the time of publication.
Earlier on Aug. 31, the
company posted an update on its website that said the storm caused widespread
electrical blackouts and other damage, preventing Sasol from operating most
utility systems.
"High voltage transmission line corridors into the Lake
Charles area are damaged, and the full assessment is still in progress by a
local power company," the company's statement said, referring to
Entergy.
The company said further that operations recovery crews were
assessing damage at the Lake Charles site and early reports indicated no
apparent damage to process equipment and no flooding damage was seen as a result
of storm surge.
"Start-up of the plants will depend on the availability
of electricity, industrial gases, other feedstocks and the restoration process.
We are engaging with our customers and suppliers regularly regarding the impacts
on production,' the company said.
In general, polyethylene market
participants anticipated the declaration as Hurricane Laura directly hit Lake
Charles, which caused extreme power outages and damages in some areas and is
home to a handful of petrochemical plants.
Producers are still assessing
how much production was lost from the hurricane and are uncertain of what to
expect in the coming week, one trader source said.
As MRC reported before,
Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per
year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the
heart of Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most
significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide
feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at its Lake Charles
multi-asset site.
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.
Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy
company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people
working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies,
and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value
product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon
electricity. |
