Westlake plans ethylene capacity expansion at Lake Charles

27-Oct-14

Westlake Chemical plans to add nearly 115,000 tpa of ethylene capacity at its 560,000 m tpa plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, by late 2015-early 2016, as per a company source. As per Platts, the expansion, along with other investments at the site, will cost over US$300 mln. Abundant supply of feedstock ethane has sparked numerous announcements of ethylene expansions. LyondellBasell brought an expansion of more than 350,000 m tpa online at its now 800,000 m tpa steam cracker in La Porte, Texas, in September. The company also announced expansions of its Channelview, Texas, site that would push ethylene output there above 2 mln m tpa. Williams Olefins has announced plans to restart its Geismar, Louisiana, facility by the end of October and plans to increase the site's capacity by 270,000 m tpa to 900,000 m tpa during the startup. In August, Total Petrochemicals and Refining announced plans for a 900,000 mtpa cracker on the US Gulf Coast. Formosa Plastics secured a greenhouse gas permit from the US Environmental Protection Agency for an olefins plant and low density polyethylene unit at the company's Point Comfort, Texas, complex. In May, OxyChem and Dow Chemical received GHG permits for steam crackers at their respective Ingleside and Freeport, Texas, sites. In mid-May, ExxonMobil Chemical secured a GHG permit for its planned 1.5 mln mtpa steam cracker in Baytown, Texas. In April, Shintech applied for a construction permit for a 500,000 tpa ethylene plant in Louisiana.