Fourth Quarter 2005 Maintenance Spending Along the Gulf Coast Region Forecast to Increase by 26% When Compared to 2004

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Scheduled maintenance inspections, repairs, and overhauls at industrial plants during the last quarter of 2005, will increase substantially over last year, with 53 planned turnarounds or outages scheduled at 51 different plant locations on the Gulf Coast. During the same quarter of last year there were only 39 plant maintenance outages or turnarounds reported by Industrialinfo.com as part of its North American Projects Database, a 26% increase in maintenance activity. This increase in activity also equals an increase in overall spending to $215 million with an average project total investment value (TIV) up from $3.3 million to $4.1 million.

The largest opportunities for equipment and service providers this fall will be from three different industries: Chemical Processing Industry (CPI), with 21 planned turnarounds and $62 million in spending; Power, with 18 plant outages totaling $71 million; Petroleum Refining (HPI), with seven turnarounds equaling $64 million in spending. Combined, these 46 plant turnarounds and outages equal an increase in planned maintenance activity of 30% over the same quarter in 2004, with downtimes ranging from a few days to an entire month.

Click the image at right to view a fourth quarter comparison of maintenance activity for 2004 vs. 2005.

The largest power station outage is planned by AEP Texas Central Company (Wadsworth, Texas) on their No. 2 nuclear unit that produces 1,354-megawatts (MW) located at the South Texas Generating Station in Wadsworth. The unit is expected to be offline for 28 days while major inspections and repairs are performed.

ExxonMobil Corporation (Irving, Texas) is planning the largest refinery turnaround this fall with plans to begin a 30-day maintenance turnaround of its No. 7 pipestill unit that produces 70,000 barrels per day located at its Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery next month.

The largest chemical plant turnaround will be performed by Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Michigan) on the LHC7 ethylene unit, which is scheduled to be taken down for 30 days beginning in December. The unit produces an estimated 2.9 million pounds per year of ethylene and is one seven ethylene plants currently owned and operated by Dow Chemical along the Gulf Coast.

As the year drew to a close in 2004, many plant owners postponed planned turnarounds to take advantage of the strengthening demand and overall positive economics of the regional economy, possibly explaining the smaller number of turnarounds during the last quarter of 2004. As we approach the end of 2005, the industry is again faced with relatively strong demand in most market segments, although no cancellations in planned plant turnarounds or outages have been identified.

Industrialinfo.com tracks and updates changes in capital and maintenance spending reported in over 4,200 industrial plants located in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. The Gulf Coast region consists of the major industrial zones of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Online access to important management decision makers along with operational details such as physical addresses, driving maps, product descriptions, and much more is available as part of Industrialinfo.com’s Gulf Coast Online Plant Directory (OPD).

Check out Industrialinfo.com's Wall Maps by clicking on the image at right.

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Industrial Information Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 22 years. IIR is respected as a leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.