Petrochemicals Factbox: Plants Planning Restarts Post-Harvey

ExxonMobil on Tuesday was working to restart polyethylene plants in Beaumont and Mont Belvieu, Texas, more than a week after Hurricane Harvey's assault on the Houston area and far southeast Texas.

More than 50% of US ethylene capacity remained offline as ExxonMobil and other producers looked toward resuming operations, first ensuring they had access to electricity, water and other basics before restarting facilities. Resumption of normal production could take time as ports, railroads and other critical logistics fully restore operations in Harvey's wake.

ExxonMobil's Beaumont refinery took on some floodwater, but the chemical plant was dry and the company was initiating startup at the 1 million mt/year polyethylene plant, spokesman Aaron Stryk said Tuesday. He had no update on the shuttered steam cracker at Beaumont, which can produce 827,273 mt/year of ethylene.

Stryk also said ExxonMobil's polyethylene plant in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles east of Houston, was "progressing startup activities" after shutting last week.

ExxonMobil manufactures more than 1 million mt/year of polyethylene at the plant, and will add another 1.3 million mt/year of capacity with two plants currently undergoing commissioning. The company also aims to add another 650,000 mt/year of polyethylene capacity at Beaumont by 2019.

Harvey's assault knocked out pumps at Beaumont's two water plants early Thursday, leaving the waterlogged city -- and its industrial facilities -- without running water. Engineers from ExxonMobil and two other companies on Friday rigged a temporary pump to move water from the swollen Neches River to a water plant that restored some running water for toilet flushes and bathing.