In a letter recently sent out to its customers, Westlake Chemical (Houston, Texas / USA; www.westlakechemical.com) said that as a result of a fire that broke out at its complex in Geismar, Louisiana / USA on 22 March, it was forced to declare force majeure for PVC from the site. The blaze, which Westlake said was extinguished after a few hours and did not result in any injuries, damaged the site’s production lines for vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) – a key PVC feedstock. The group said an investigation into the cause of the fire was underway, adding that it is already repairing the affected lines and expects the entire vinyls operation to resume in mid-May. “Sections of the site’s operations, including the PVC plant, may be operable earlier,” Westlake added.

According to Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net), the Houston-based group turns out 250,000 t/y of VCM at the site. In addition, group subsidiary Geismar Vinyls Corporation also operates a 295,000 t/y VCM line as well as a 275,000 t/y PVC production plant at the site.