Lyondell Gulf Coast facilities resume operations
  by: OilOnline
  Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Lyondell Chemical Company has announced that all of its Texas Gulf Coast ethylene, propylene oxide (PO) and refining facilities, as well as the majority of its derivative facilities, have safely resumed operations after having been shut down as a result of Hurricane Rita.

All of Lyondell's affected Gulf Coast ethylene plants had been restarted by last weekend. Ethylene operating rates across the company's system are at approximately 85 percent and are increasing.

All of the company's propylene oxide (PO) facilities are now operating, with the exception of one unit at Bayport, Texas, that has remained down for scheduled maintenance turnaround activity. Excluding the Bayport unit, operating rates across Lyondell's U.S. PO system are at approximately 85 percent and are expected to increase. Lyondell's North American PO production capacity represents 55 percent of its worldwide system capacity.

Lyondell's U.S. titanium dioxide (TiO2) facilities were unaffected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Lyondell-Citgo Refining (LCR) resumed operation last week and currently is operating at approximately 50 percent of capacity. It is expected to continue at similar rates for several weeks due to equipment problems encountered during start-up.