North American Ethylene Turnaround Activity Steady for 2011

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--This year has been an active year for ethylene unit turnarounds in the United States and Canada. Industrial Info has identified and tracked 24 ethylene unit turnarounds for 2011, including 10 planned and 14 unplanned events.

Roughly 42% of the unplanned turnarounds were caused by inclement weather conditions in the first half of the year. About half of the weather-related unplanned turnarounds were caused by lightning strikes.

There are three remaining planned turnarounds scheduled to kick off before the end of this year, and ethylene prices have begun to fluctuate as a result. These include turnarounds of Formosa Plastics Corporation USA (Livingston, New Jersey) and ExxonMobil Chemical Company (Irving, Texas), which began this month.

The most notable planned activity for 2011 was the 61-day turnaround on the 1,700 million-pound-per-year OP2 ethylene unit located at LyondellBasell Industries' (NYSE:LYB) (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) plant in Channelview, Texas. At the beginning of the year, The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) had a 47-day unplanned turnaround at its Taft, Louisiana, plant as a result of an electrical failure.

Industrial Info is already tracking 12 planned ethylene unit turnarounds planned for 2012 in the U.S. and Canada. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company (CPChem) (The Woodlands, Texas) has a 41-day turnaround scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2012 at its ethylene plant in Sweeny, Texas. CPChem has announced plans to build a $1.5 billion ethylene cracker at one of its existing plant sites in Texas. The ethylene cracker will utilize ethane as a feedstock to benefit from the abundant supplies that are fueling the ethylene race in the United States.

View Plant Profile - 1002192 1013357 1013498 1003693 1004233
View Project Report - 300032325

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.