U.S. Chemical Producers Plot 250 First-Quarter Maintenance Projects

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Inflationary fears, swinging commodity prices and unpredictable geopolitical conflicts have greeted the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry as it kicks off 2023, and careful, consistent maintenance will be necessary for producers to bolster production of high-demand products like ethylene, while meeting emission-reduction goals. Industrial Info is tracking 250 maintenance-related projects, totaling more than $865 million in value, in the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry that are set to kick off in first-quarter 2023, the bulk of which--more than 40%--is attributed to petrochemical units.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing the top 10 parent companies for maintenance projects in the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry from January through March.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (CPChem) (The Woodlands, Texas), which is a joint venture between Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) (Houston, Texas), accounts for more maintenance-related spending that any other company, led by two projects at its complex in Baytown, Texas: the PAO production unit, which produces about 106 million pounds per year of polyalphaolefins (PAO), and the LLDPE production area, which comprises three lines that produce 1,150 million pounds per year of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). The projects are expected to wrap up in the second and fourth quarters of 2023, respectively.

Chevron Phillips also is planning a turnaround on the 2.25 billion-pound-per-year Ethylene Unit 33 at its Old Ocean complex in Sweeny, Texas, near Baytown on the Gulf Coast. The Old Ocean complex is benefiting from the Biden administration's recent decision to ease sanctions on Venezuela: Phillips 66 recently purchased 500,000 barrels of crude from the Latin American nation, which is set to be processed at Old Ocean.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Project Database can read detailed reports on the Baytown PAO and LLDPE projects, and the Sweeny ethylene project.

Dow Incorporated (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) is second only to Chevron Phillips in its total investment value for proposed first-quarter chemical maintenance, led by two projects at its complex in Plaquemine, Louisiana--the low density polyethylene (LDPE) Train 1 and polyethylene resins trains 1 and 2--and the Hydrocarbons 1 Unit at its St. Charles Taft Petrochemicals complex in Hahnville, Louisiana.

Jim Fitterling, the chief executive officer of Dow, said in a recent quarterly earnings-related conference call that Dow's plans to reduce its overall spending on turnarounds is a "big moving part" for the company's 2023 agenda. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Plaquemine LDPE and polyethylene resins projects, and the St. Charles Taft project.

Indorama Corporation (Jakarta, Indonesia) leads all other foreign-based chemical companies in first-quarter turnarounds, led by the 400 million-pound-per-year A3 Ethylene Unit at its complex in Port Neches, Texas, and a naphthalene dicardoxylic (NDC) acid unit in Decatur, Alabama. The completion of the Decatur unit in 2021 made Indorama the world's largest producer of NDC acid, which is used in polyesters and resins to make such items as liquid crystal display (LCD) flat-panel displays and data storage tape. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the ethylene and NDC projects.

Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) (Kingsport, Tennessee) is planning a trio of 30-day turnarounds on 17 boiler units at its complex in Kingsport, which are expected to take place through December. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

William McLain, the chief financial officer for Eastman, said in a recent earnings-related conference call that a more stable demand outlook in 2023 could reduce the need for turnarounds. "As you think about the demand that we had in the first half of 2022 along with the outages, that's driven a lot of inefficiency," he said. "As we get back to operating in a more controlled demand environment, there will be a lower amount of planned turnarounds."

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 reports for maintenance-related projects at chemical-processing facilities across the U.S. that are set to kick off from January through March.

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).