Some Texas Petrochemical Production Capacity Shut Ahead of Hurricane Beryl — OPIS

Some petrochemical production plants along the Texas Coast were shut on Monday as Hurricane Beryl made an early morning landfall near Matagorda as a Category 1 storm.

About 52 billion lbs/year (23.6 million metric tons) of ethylene capacity is located in the path of Beryl, according to estimates by OPIS PetroChem Wire.

That represents 80% of ethylene capacity in Texas and almost 57% of total U.S. Gulf Coast ethylene capacity.

Formosa Petrochemicals on Sunday said it was shutting all production units at Point Comfort, Texas, but the brunt of the storm moved east of the facility.

Wind gusts at the nearby Calhoun County Airport topped out at around 45 mph early Monday and wind speeds were falling by daybreak.

Further north, petrochemical plants in and around Freeport, Texas, were likely to have shut ahead of the storm, but no details were available Monday morning.

A Dow Chemical spokesperson said the company was following its weather preparedness plans without providing further information.

A Chevron Phillips Chemical spokesperson said the company had implemented its established storm protocols, but generally does not comment on the conditions of each facility.

Representatives of Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA and LyondellBasell were not immediately available for comment Monday morning.

Petrochemical facilities typically reduce operating rates or shut down when wind speeds rise above a certain threshold.

Sustained winds at the Brazoria County Airport, about 10 miles inland from Freeport, were at 43 mph and gusting to nearly 80 mph at around 4:53 a.m. CT.

Sustained winds at Houston Hobby Airport were gauged at 58 mph and with gusts reaching 84 mph shortly before 9 a.m. CT, according to the National Weather Service.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

-Reporting by David Barry, dbarry@opisnet.com and Donna Todd, dtodd@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 08, 2024 12:06 ET (16:06 GMT)

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