U.S. Chemical Firms Prep for Maintenance Amid Supply Crunch

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Demand for chemical products, such as plastic and rubber, is growing across the U.S., and producers continue to face significant delays in constructing new plants, due to worker shortages, stringent regulations, uncertain economic outlooks, etc. With utilization rates hitting highs, producers are under pressure to ensure their existing facilities can handle heavy production volumes.

According to a recent survey from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), transportation-related supply-chain problems persisted throughout the first half of 2022 and resulted in prolonged impacts on U.S. chemical-manufacturing operations. For three consecutive quarters, chemical producers told the ACC, supply-chain and freight-transportation disruptions harmed their U.S. operations, negatively affecting customer orders and resulting in costly workarounds and higher inventories.

Industrial Info is tracking 225 maintenance-related projects in the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry that are set to begin in the fourth quarter and total nearly $500 million in investment value, nearly half of which is attributed to the petrochemical and plastic/rubber sectors.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing the top 10 parent companies for maintenance projects at U.S. chemical-processing facilities set to kick off from October through December.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California) subsidiary Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC accounts for nearly 20% of the total investment, thanks to just two turnarounds in Texas: the 1798 alpha olefins (AO) area at its Cedar Bayou complex in Baytown, and Polyethylene Unit 41 at its Old Ocean ethylene plant in Sweeny. Both projects are expected to wrap up in mid-November. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Project Database can read detailed reports on the Cedar Bayou and Sweeny projects.

The Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast region, which often is cited as the global capital of the chemical industry, accounts for 74 of the 225 projects. In Louisiana, Pinnacle Polymers (Garyville, Louisiana) is preparing for a plant-wide turnaround at its polypropylene plant in Garyville. Subscribers can read more in Industrial Info's project report.

Other high-end projects in the U.S. South include a pair of turnarounds at Indorama Corporation's (Jakarta, Indonesia) cyclic organics plant in Decatur, Alabama, which produces about 1 billion tons per year of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). The company will perform maintenance on its PTA unit in October and its PX-2 (paraxylene) unit in November. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the PTA and PX-2 projects.

Outside the South, Dyno Nobel Incorporated (Salt Lake City, Utah) is preparing for a turnaround on the fertilizer plant at its St. Helens Ammonia complex in Deer Island, Oregon. AOC Americas (Collierville, Tennessee) is readying for a turnaround at its maleic anhydride plant in Kenova, West Virginia. Subscribers can read more in Industrial Info's reports on the Oregon and West Virginia projects.

Although the South accounts for more than 72% of the total maintenance-related spending in the Chemical Processing Industry in the fourth quarter, other regions include projects from household names like DuPont (NYSE:DD) (Wilmington, Delaware), Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Airgas Incorporated (Radnor, Pennsylvania).

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of U.S. maintenance projects at chemical-processing facilities that are set to begin in the fourth quarter.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).