Indorama announces outage at Louisiana ethane cracker

Indorama Ventures Olefins LLC (IVOL), an indirect subsidiary of Thailand’s Indorama Ventures PCL (IVL), Bangkok, has halted operations following a power outage at its recently commissioned ethane cracker in Westlake, La., just west of Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish (OGJ Online, Feb. 3, 2020; Sept. 25, 2015).

A lightning strike at IVOL’s Westlake plant on Aug. 1 resulted in a plant trip and subsequent flaring at the site, IVL said in an Aug. 3 filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The incident posed no danger to the site, employees, or surrounding community, but IVOL has taken the plant offline for personnel to assess the situation, IVL said.

While the company disclosed no further details regarding the operational upset, IVL confirmed the Westlake plant—which produces 440,000 tonnes/year of ethylene—is covered by a comprehensive insurance policy.

A timeline for restarting operations at the site has yet to be revealed.

IVOL officially entered the formerly dormant ethane cracker at Westlake into commercial operation on Jan. 31 following an extended renovation and revamp project (OGJ Online, May 6, 2019).

Integrated with US Gulf Coast ethylene pipeline infrastructure to enable efficient distribution, the Westlake plant provides long-term captive ethylene supplies to Indorama Ventures Oxide and Glycols’s (IVOG) plant in Clear Lake, Tex., as well as IVL’s recently acquired integrated ethylene oxide-propylene oxide and derivatives assets in Port Neches, Tex., which the operator completed purchase of from Huntsman Corp. in early January.

Originally planned for commissioning in late 2017 and mechanically completed in May 2019, the refurbished cracker—jointly owned by IVL (76%) and Singapore-based Indorama Corp. (24%)—is designed to process attractively priced ethane and propane feedstock from US shale to produce ethylene and propylene.