Unplanned shutdown of multiple units at Formosa Plastics Texas facility amid power outage

27-Jun-17

A weekend power outage at Formosa Plastics USA's Point Comfort, Texas, facility lead to unplanned shutdown of multiple units, according to filings with state regulators, as reported by Platts. Formosa lost electricity to a pair of olefins units, as well as polyethylene, polypropylene and chlor-alkali plants, according to filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Power was lost to units just before noon Saturday, with the event running through Sunday night, according to the filings.
A source with knowledge of company operations said the shutdown was having an impact on production at the site. Local media reports over the weekend, citing company officials, indicated that inclement weather may have been a cause. A coastal flood advisory remained in effect Monday morning, and was expected to last until noon central time, according to the National Weather Service.

The Point Comfort complex, Formosa's largest in the US, is located about 90 miles from Corpus Christi along the Texas Gulf Coast. Formosa's crackers produce approximately 3.3 mln tpa of olefins at Point Comfort. The complex's capacities also includes almost 1.5 mln tpa of high density polyethylene, 582,000 m tpa of linear low-density polyethylene, 1.9 mln tpa of polypropylene and 736,000 m tpa of chlor-alkali.