Texas Petrochemicals to provisionally idle plants, cut contract workforce due to continued weak demand

13-Jan-09

Texas Petrochemicals, Inc., a Houston based petrochemical company announced to streamline the operating costs by provisionally halting production units and reduce the contract-based employees to cope with tremendous decline in demand due to worsening economic situation in the region. The company, which provides a diverse range of products and services into performance, specialty and intermediate manufacturing markets, will idle its Houston and Port Neches facilities due to a continued weak demand across its C4 and Performance Product businesses, especially in its largest market, butadiene. Russ Crockett, Senior Vice President -- Commercial said, "At this point, although we have seen some improvement in demand across our business from last month, demand for butadiene has not significantly improved over December's levels. As a result, we will continue to take aggressive steps to reduce working capital, manage costs, and maintain liquidity until conditions improve." The Company has manufacturing facilities in the industrial corridor adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel, Port Neches and Baytown, Texas and operates a product terminal in Lake Charles, Louisiana.