More Texas chem plants shut down amid cold weather

HOUSTON (ICIS)–More chemical plants in Texas shut down because of cold weather.

Few chemical plants in Texas and along the Gulf Coast are equipped to tolerate freezing temperatures because it rarely gets that cold in the region.

Since the cold front hit Texas on Thursday, more companies have announced plant shutdowns because of the weather.

ANNOUNCED SHUTDOWNS

• Covestro idled a chlor-alkali plant in Baytown, Texas.
• Covestro placed its isocyanate and polycarbonate (PC) operations on standby in Baytown, Texas.
• LyondellBasell is continuing to conduct detailed assessments of the impact of winter storm Elliott on their production facilities along the US Gulf Coast. The company declined to comment on the status of any individual units. In an environmental filing, LyondellBasell said it reduced operating rates at its cracker in Channelview, Texas.
• INEOS Styrolution shut down its styrene unit in Bayport, Texas.
• Howard Energy Partners shut down its Javelina natural-gas processing plant in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• Chevron Phillips Chemical is undergoing shutdown procedures for the high density polyethylene (HDPE) lines at its Pasadena, Texas site ahead of a potential sitewide shutdown due to freezing temperatures.
• Indorama Ventures plans to shut down its ethylene oxide (EO) and ethylene glycol (EG) plants in Clear Lake, Texas, out of precaution for the cold weather.
• Chevron Phillips Chemical is taking down two crackers in at Cedar Bayou, Texas.
• Braskem is shutting down its polypropylene (PP) operations in Texas.
• Butadiene (BD) producer TPC Group will shut down critical equipment and ancillary systems.
• Acrylic acid and acrylates esters producer American Acryl began the process of shutting down its Bayport facility in Pasadena.

Other companies have started their winter protocols, but they had not announced any shutdowns. These companies include BASF, Celanese, INEOS and Sasol.

ExxonMobil reported a paraxylene (PX) unit upset in Beaumont, Texas. It expects to meet all contractual commitments.

Formosa declined to comment.

POWER PLANTS CONTINUE OPERATING
Even if the plants can handle cold weather, they could still be forced to shut down if they cannot receive electrical power or fuel.

During the winter freeze in February 2021, problems with the state’s power grid and natural gas infrastructure contributed to widespread plant outages.

So far, the state’s electrical grid is operating under normal conditions, according to the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas, which regulates power plants.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages most of the state’s power grid, said capacity should be more than sufficient to meet demand. ERCOT, like the PUC, said grid conditions are normal.

States with smaller populations have reported more power outages than Texas, according to the website poweroutage.us. Texas had reported 10,000-50,000 outages, well behind the states of Maine, North Carolina, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania.

Some natural gas processing plants in the state reported problems to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

However, no major disruptions have been reported to the state’s gas supply system, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency the regulates the oil and gas industry.

“The supply from storage, pipes and production has worked to provide plenty of the essential resource to electric power generators and local gas utilities,” the commission said.

FORECAST
Temperatures should remain below freezing until Saturday in Houston, home of many of the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical plants and refineries, according to the National Weather Service. Lows should remain below freezing through Sunday.

COLD WEATHER DISRUPTS RAIL LINES THROUGHOUT US
A cold front hit much of the US this week, and bad weather has disrupted operations along the nation’s rail lines.

On Friday, Union Pacific (UP) issued the following warnings:

• In the Pacific northwest, closures at the region’s roads and highways are preventing workers from operating trains. Teams are working to address frozen switches and broken rails.
• In the Midwest, temperatures well below 0 degrees Celsius are disrupting networks between the state of Wyoming and the Great Lakes region. Switches are frozen and the bad weather has created challenging yard and through-freight conditions.
• In the south, low temperatures are disrupting operations, including southern Texas and Louisiana. Teams are working to address frozen switches and broken rails.

The railroad company CSX warned on Monday of heavy snow and freezing rain in the Midwest, the Ohio valley and the northeastern US. So far, CSX has not reported any service disruptions, and it has not warned of any possible delays.

Thumbnail shows cold weather during the freeze of 2021. Image by Ralph Lauer/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock

Additional reporting by Bill Bowen, Kevin Callahan, John Donnelly, Amanda Hay, Deniz Koray, Zachary Moore and Melissa Wheeler

(recasts and updates paragraph 6 on LyondellBasell assessing impacts)