LyondellBasell delays US HDPE unit startup
LyondellBasell said Friday during its second-quarter update that it is looking to start its Texas Hyperzone high-density polyethylene plant during the second half of 2019.
Petrotahlil :The expected time frame is later than the mid-2019 startup the company said it was previously targeting.
CEO Bob Patel said LyondellBasell was still completing construction of the Hyperzone PE plant, which is in La Porte, Texas. He added that the Hyperzone project was not mechanically complete yet, but the commissioning process will begin in the next month or two, with the idea of producing in Q4.
The 550,000 mt/year Hyperzone HDPE project is among more than $200 billion in new petrochemical projects in the Gulf Coast and the Northeast US amid a cheap feedstock ethane advantage resulting from the US natural gas shale boom.
The startup delay of LyondellBasell's PE plant comes days after South African chemical producer Sasol said its 420,000 mt/year low-density polyethylene plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, is expected to come online four to six weeks later than planned.
END
