Upset at Chevron Phillips’ Cedar Bayou chemical plant

03-Jun-11

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC reported a unit upset at its Cedar Bayou chemical plant in Baytown, Texas, as per Bloomberg. A compressor, which tripped and caused the upset, was restarted. Emissions associated with the upset started at 10 p.m. local time yesterday and lasted 6 hours. A cracking furnace and an ethylene unit were included in the listed sources of the emissions, according to the filing. Steam crackers split oil products like naphtha and liquefied petroleum gases through pressure and heat. Outages can increase prices for ethylene and propylene as companies turn to spot markets to help them meet supply contracts.