Equistar To Shut Down HDPE Capacity At Port Arthur

Equistar Chemicals will shut down and mothball its gas-phase, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) reactor at Port Arthur, TX on Mar. 31. The shutdown will reduce Equistar's HDPE capacity by 300 million lb/yr and is part of Equistar's long-term strategy to maximize value. The HDPE unit is one of three polymer reactors at the Port Arthur site. Remaining capacity will be 240 million lb/yr of HDPE and 160 million lb/yr of low-density polyethylene (LDPE).

Customers for products from the mothballed unit will be supplied with comparable products produced at Equistar's Matagorda, Victoria, and La Porte, TX facilities. Employment at the Port Arthur plant will be reduced from approximately 200 to approximately 125 following the Mar. 31 shutdown.

"The current level of profitability in the polyethylene industry and our flexibility to more effectively utilize other existing assets to achieve the highest total value have resulted in this decision," said Norman Phillips, Equistar's SVP of polymers. "Recent expansions completed and under way at Equistar's Victoria and Matagorda, TX HDPE plants will be utilized to meet customer needs. When market conditions warrant, the reactor can be restarted."

Equistar Chemicals, LP (Houston) is a joint venture among Lyondell Chemical Co., Millennium Chemicals Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corp., and combines their olefins, polymers and oxygenated chemicals businesses. Equistar is the largest producer of ethylene and polyethylene resins in North America and a leading supplier of propylene and polypropylene resins.