Fourth Quarter North American Chemical Plant Maintenance Turnaround Starts Slow

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Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas) has reported nearly half as many chemical plant maintenance turnarounds this fall as compared to this same period last year. For the fourth quarter of 2003, there are an estimated 50 turnarounds planned to kick-off with a Total Investment Value (TIV) of $147 million compared to 92 planned turnarounds during the fourth quarter of 2002 with a TIV of over $200 million.

The fall is traditionally a time when many producers use the cooler weather and winter months to complete maintenance projects or tie-ins for capital projects. Although, there is a decrease in reported maintenance turnaround activity for 2003, the average TIV is $692,000 larger, this year, than in 2002 at $2.9 million.

The geography of planned turnarounds changed considerably compared to previous quarters with a significant decline in planned activity in Canada. Industrialinfo.com only reported two fourth quarter maintenance turnarounds in Canada and both are located at plants in Quebec. The Southwest and Southeast regions came in at the top when comparing the total number of planned turnarounds with a combined total of 26 and a TIV of $111 million or over 75% of the total spending for the quarter.

Click the image to the right to view the Chemical Plant Maintenance Spending Analysis

"Many producers have scrutinized their maintenance budgets just the same as they have their capital budgets and delayed projects or restricted spending to 'must do' projects in response to the slow economy and uncertainties of what opportunities 2004 will produce," commented Trey Hamblet, Chemicals Group Manager with Industrialinfo.com.

One of the largest turnaround projects planned to kick-off this fall begins in October. Westlake Petrochemicals Corporation's Sulphur, Louisiana Petro 1 unit will begin a 21-day major maintenance turnaround in early October for inspections and repairs of the 1.15 billion pounds per year ethylene unit. For a comparison in spending of previous quarters visit either of these archived IIR Industry Alerts: Chemical Plant Maintenance Spending Remains Strong Through Summer Months or Chemical Plant Maintenance Turnaround Spending in Second Quarter Nears $300 Million.