U.S. Chemical Processing Plants to See More than 300 Maintenance Projects Next Quarter

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info is tracking more than 300 maintenance-related projects at chemical processing facilities across the U.S. that are set to begin construction in the second quarter, nearly one-third of which are located in Texas and Louisiana. The petrochemicals, plastics and rubber, and industrial inorganic sectors account for the bulk of the turnarounds, upgrades and other maintenance projects.

Click on the image at right detailing U.S. Chemical Processing maintenance projects that are set to kick off from April through June, by industry sector.

One of the largest project proposals comes from Saudi Arabia's state-owned SABIC Innovative Plastics Holding BV, which is investing in a site-wide major maintenance turnaround at its polycarbonate plant in Burkville, Alabama. The 595 million-pound-per-year facility includes phosgene, resin and brine-recovery units that are to be inspected and repaired. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Foreign-based companies such as SABIC have made the U.S. South a top destination for many of their projects. Indorama Corporation (Jakarta, Indonesia) is set to perform a few weeks' maintenance on its Purified-Terephthalic Acid Unit 4 at its cyclic organics plant in Decatur, Alabama. The facility produces about 1 billion tons per year of purified-terephthalic acid. Indorama acquired the plant from BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England) in the spring of 2016. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) (Rotterdam, Netherlands), which has more than $7.3 billion in active projects across the U.S., is preparing to begin one of the larger maintenance projects outside the South at its ethylene complex in Morris, Illinois. The company is performing inspections and repairs on four lines that produce a combined 540 million pounds per year of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and two lines that produce a combined 650 million pounds per year of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). LyondellBasell also is hosting two smaller maintenance projects in Texas. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The Houston Ship Channel sits at the center of the area that is driving much of the turnaround activity along the U.S. Gulf Coast, which has become the de facto capitol of the domestic Chemical Processing Industry. Foreign-based project owners include BASF Corporation (Ludwigshafen, Germany), which will tend to Anone Unit 1 at its chemicals facility in Freeport, and Sekisui Chemical Company Limited (Osaka, Japan), which is performing a plant-wide turnaround at its polyvinyl alcohol plant in Pasadena. Both projects are expected to begin and end in April. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the BASF and Sekisui projects.

This is not to say that U.S.-based corporations are not planning any work. In fact, two of the Chemical Processing Industry's top names are preparing projects: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (NYSE:APD) (Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania) will perform annual maintenance on its hydrogen and air-separation plant in La Porte, Texas, which processes 41,500 standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen, and separates 900 tons per day of oxygen and nitrogen, while DowDuPont Incorporated's (NYSE:DWDP) (Midland, Michigan) 730 million-pound-per-year vinyl acetate monomers facility at its complex in Texas City, Texas, is scheduled to begin and end a turnaround in May. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Air Products and DowDuPont projects.

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