LyondellBasell continues to ramp up ethylene production recently expanded steam cracker at Corpus Christi, Texas, and anticipates running at full rates by the end of the second quarter, CEO Bob Patel said Friday.
The cracker was expanded by more than 350,000 mt/year to bring the capacity at the site to more than 1.1 million mt/year once completed in January. Speaking during LyondellBasell's first quarter earnings call, Patel said the unit ran at an average of 80% of the expanded capacity in Q1, and has been running around 90% in April.
Globally, LyondellBasell ethylene operating rates were at 95% in Q1.
The company does not have any planned olefins maintenance for the remainder of 2017, Patel said.
LyondellBasell expects ethylene units in the US will continue to run at full throughout 2017, even with planned expansions set to come online in the US Gulf region. With some of its competitors' new polyethylene capacity expected to come online before their cracker projects, there is some belief ethylene prices may not see as much downward pressure for the foreseeable future.
Four steam crackers totaling more than 5 million mt/year of ethylene capacity were scheduled to start operations this year along the Texas Gulf Coast, which houses the bulk of North America's petrochemical industry.
These are the first in a wave of US projects -- resulting from aggressive shale-driven investments -- that stand to total 10 million-12 million mt/year of additional capacity by 2020.
Dow Chemical, Chevron Phillips Chemical and ExxonMobil Chemical all have 1.5 million mt/year units due online in Texas, with Dow planning to start its unit in Freeport by midyear and the other two, to be located in Baytown, expected by the end of 2017.
All three companies have polyethylene projects tied to their greenfield projects totaling 3.35 million mt/year of resin capacity, some of which could be completed ahead of the crackers.
Dow Chemical said during its earnings call Thursday two of its planned polyethylene lines will come online with the cracker, and additional capacity expected in early 2018.
ExxonMobil said Friday that it expects new PE capacity to come online in Q3 ahead of its new ethylene capacity, and market sources have Chevron Phillips' new PE capacity is expected before its ethylene expansion is complete.
A 544,000 mt/year joint venture between Occidental Chemical and Mexican PVC maker Mexichem online in Texas during Q1. That ethylene will be used in the production of ethylene dichloride, a feedstock in the making of vinyl chloride monomer, the major precursor for PVC production.
