Williams Olefins Plans to Restart Production in Geismar, Louisiana

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Williams Olefins LLC plans to restart production at its plant in Geismar, Louisiana, this summer after an explosion shut it down on June 13, 2013. Over the past year, Williams has continued to repair the damaged parts of the plant and is installing two new furnaces that have been under construction since October 2012. When completed, the furnaces will add 600 million pounds per year of ethylene capacity.

In recent months, Williams Companies Incorporated (NYSE:WMB) (Tulsa, Oklahoma), the parent company of Williams Olefins and other subsidiaries, has suffered similar incidents, prompting safety concerns after disruptions at a pipeline in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Plymouth, Washington, on March 31, 2014, and at its natural gas-processing plant in Opal, Wyoming, on April 23, 2014. The explosion at the Opal plant affected one of five cryogenic natural gas processing units on site. Production at the plant has been shut down for an unspecified amount of time while the incident is being investigated.

The restart of the Louisiana plant comes at a time when spending in the olefins market is ramping up sharply. Industrial Info is tracking 13 projects worth approximately $9 billion aimed at expanding ethylene capacity in Louisiana over the next several years, in addition to new capacity projects in Texas and Canada. Companies such as Shintech Louisiana LLC (Addis, Louisiana), Axiall Corporation (NYSE:AXLL) (Atlanta, Georgia), and Sasol North America Incorporated (Houston, Texas) are all planning new ethylene unit additions at their Louisiana plant operations.

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