14 Mar 2022 | 22:23 UTC

Formosa Plastics begins restart of Point Comfort, Texas cracker: sources

Formosa Plastics USA has begun restarting operations at its 1.5 million mt/y Point Comfort, Texas, cracker, sources familiar with company operations confirmed March 14.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

A source said the cracker, the largest of three at the Point Comfort site, was expected to reach full rates by the end of the week.

Sources said current spot prices should be unaffected, as the cracker is not yet running at 100%, though some market participants expected ethylene prices to decline by a few cents once the cracker ramps up and supply availability increases.

The cracker initially shut Dec. 21 and was scheduled for a 60-90 day turnaround.

Recently, spot ethylene prices have been slightly lower than market participants expected. Platts last assessed Mont Belvieu ethylene at 35.25 cents/lb FD Mont Belvieu March 11, nearly 7% lower from the month-ago period when Mont Belvieu ethylene was assessed at 37.75 cents/lb FD Mont Belvieu Feb. 11, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.


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