Update on Explosion at Williams Olefins Plant in Louisiana

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--An explosion occurred at Williams Olefins LLC's (Tulsa, Oklahoma) plant in Geismar, Louisiana, on Thursday, June 13, 2013. The residual fire has been contained, but the entire plant has been shut down, forcing hundreds of employees and contractors to evacuate the premises. Investigations are needed to determine the cause of the explosion and the amount of damage the plant sustained.

This plant was in the process of having two new furnaces installed to expand its ethylene production capacity by 600 million pounds per year. The construction had been under way since September 2012 and was planned to be completed this fall during a maintenance turnaround. The turnaround is planned in the 1.35 billion-pound-per-year ethylene unit for this August and is expected to be down for 30 to 45 days. At this time, it is unclear how the recent explosion will affect the current expansion and the future maintenance work.

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