The Urethane Blog
Everchem Updates
VOLUME XXI
September 14, 2023
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August 31, 2021
Hardest-hit areas in Louisiana could be without power for weeks – Entergy
Author: Adam Yanelli
2021/08/31
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Power outages continue to exist for about 840,000 customers across the state of Louisiana and parts of Mississippi after Hurricane Ida made landfall on Sunday. The main power distributor in the state said the hardest-hit areas could experience outages “for weeks”.
Entergy – the main power distributor for the state of Louisiana – is still assessing the damage, which included damage to major transmission lines that deliver power to numerous Louisiana parishes, which remain out of service.
The number of outages has dropped slightly from Monday.
“The worst damage seen so far is in the south, southeast, Baton Rouge and New Orleans metro regions, with significant flooding reported in the southeast region,” the company said in an update around mid-day on Tuesday.
“Because of the extent of damage and rebuilding required, we expect recovery to be difficult and challenging, and customers in the hardest-hit areas should expect extended power outages lasting for weeks,” the company said.
Power outages can shut down operations at chemical plants and delay their restart.
Many companies shut down plants in anticipation of the storm. These plants make many plastics and chemicals that are in short supply. If they stay idled long enough, the shutdowns will further tighten markets.
PLANT SHUTDOWNS
The following table shows chemical plants and refineries in the region that have shut down.
| Company | Site | Products | Status |
| NOVA | Geismar, Louisiana | Ethylene, propylene | Shutdown |
| Pinnacle Polymers | Garyville, Louisiana | PP | FM |
| Cornerstone | Waggaman, Louisiana | ACN, melamine | FM |
| Shintech | Addis, Louisiana | Ethylene, chlorine, caustic soda, EDC, VCM, PVC | Shutdown |
| Shintech | Plaquemine, Louisiana | Ethylene, chlorine, caustic soda, EDC, VCM, PVC | Shutdown |
| Rubicon | Geismar, Louisiana | MDI, polyether polyols, aniline, nitrobenzene | Shutdown |
| ExxonMobil | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Gasoline, refinery-grade propylene (RGP), benzene, toluene | Shutdown |
| Marathon Petroleum | Garyville, Louisiana | Gasoline, refined products | Shutdown |
| Olin | Plaquemine, Louisiana | Caustic soda, chlorine | Shutdown |
| Olin | St Gabriel, Louisiana | Caustic soda, chlorine | Shutdown |
| Valero | Meraux, Louisiana | Gasoline, refined products, propylene, propylene upgrade | Shutdown |
| Valero | St Charles, Louisiana | Gasoline, refined products, propylene, propylene upgrade | Shutdown |
| Dow | Taft, Louisiana | Oxo-alcohols (IBA, NBA) | Shutdown |
| Phillips 66 | Belle Chasse, Louisiana | Refined products, aromatics, propylene | Shutdown |
| Formosa Plastics | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | PVC, VCM | Shutdown |
| ExxonMobil | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Olefins, aromatics, IPA, polyolefins, base oils | Shutdown |
| Westlake | Geismar, Louisiana | Caustic soda, EDC, PVC, VCM | Shutdown |
| Westlake | Plaquemine, Louisiana | Caustic soda, EDC, PVC, VCM | Shutdown |
| Dow | Taft, Louisiana | Olefins, acetic acid, acrylic acid, acrylic acid esters, ethanolamines, EO, glycol ethers, LLDPE, oxo-alcohols | Shutdown |
| Dow | Plaquemine, Louisiana | Olefins, aromatics, EO, glycol ethers, LDPE, LLDPE, PG, PO | Shutdown |
| BASF | Geismar, Louisiana | BDO, EO, MDI, TDI, polyols | Shutdown |
| Phillips 66 | Belle Chasse, Louisiana | Refined products, aromatics, propylene | Shutdown |
| Shell | Norco, Louisiana | Olefins | Shutdown |
| Shell | Geismar, Louisiana | LAO, EG, EO, linear alcohols, glycol ethers | Shutdown |
| Cornerstone | Waggaman, Louisiana | ACN, melamine | Shutdown |
The products made at many of these plants are already in short supply and the shutdowns could impact availability.
In the US fertilizer markets, CF Industries confirmed late Monday that the initial assessment of its Louisiana Donaldsonville Complex did not present significant damage from Hurricane Ida and production will resume as soon as possible.
The company shut down all production on 28 August, as the category 4 storm neared landfall. The complex includes six ammonia plants, five urea plants, four nitric acid plants and three urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) plants.
RAIL UPDATE
The New Orleans Flood Protection Authority has closed the area’s floodgates, which will disrupt all eastward and westward rail routes going through New Orleans, including interchange routes on other carriers.
On Monday, Norfolk Southern said the intermodal terminal in New Orleans will remain closed through Tuesday. Customers with shipments destined to hurricane areas or through them should expect delays of 48-72 hours.
On Monday, BNSF said its main line between Lafayette, Louisiana, and New Orleans remains out of service and it does not know when it could reopen.
BNSF said interchange with other carriers in New Orleans remains suspended, with an embargo in effect for all traffic destined to enter and leave the city.
Kansas City Southern has suspended rail operations on a portion of its line because of excessive rain and wind caused by Hurricane Ida, the company said on Monday.
Mainline operations and interchanges from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in Louisiana have been suspended, as well as Gulfport/Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Kansas City Southern said.
The company cannot conduct maintenance until water has receded.
Once the line has reopened, customers expect delays until Kansas City Southern works through backlogs and until it can resume normal speeds in the areas hit by Hurricane Ida.
On Monday, Union Pacific said engineering crews have started to inspect railroad tracks to assess any storm damage. Because the floodgates are closed, there is no interchange to eastern carriers, so Union Pacific is continuing to review options for rerouting traffic.
Union Pacific had suspended operations at its intermodal terminal in Avondale, Louisiana.
On Friday, CSX said it was taking steps to prepare for Hurricane Ida. It did not announce any suspensions.
In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
A Coast Guard spokesperson said the department is still in the early stages of assessing the navigability of the waterway, but that no blockages had been reported as of Tuesday morning.
OIL SHUT-INS
Nearly all US oil and natural gas production has been shut in because of Hurricane Ida, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Monday. The data is updated daily around mid-day.
Producers have shut in nearly 96% of oil production and nearly 94% of gas production.
PORT RESTRICTIONS, SHUTDOWNS
Ports threatened by Hurricane Ida have either restricted operations or shut them down.
| Port | Status | Condition |
| New Orleans, Louisiana | Closed | Zulu |
| Plaquemines, Louisiana | Closed | Zulu |
| South Louisiana, Louisiana | Closed | Zulu |
| St Bernard, Louisiana | Closed | Zulu |
| Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Closed | Zulu |
| Pascagoula, Mississippi | Closed | Zulu |
| Biloxi, Mississippi | Closed | Zulu |
| Gulfport, Mississippi | Closed | Zulu |
| Mobile, Alabama | Open with Restrictions | Yankee |
| Pensacola, Florida | Open with Restrictions | X-Ray |
| Panama City, Florida | Open with Restrictions | X-Ray |
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) has paused deliveries of crude until Hurricane Ida subsides, it said on Sunday.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port is the nation’s only deepwater oil port for supertankers. Some 50% of the nation’s refining capacity can be supplied by LOOP, which moves 12% of the nation’s annual crude oil imports.
POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGE
Ida’s size, strength and path could cause billions of dollars worth of damage.
The property data firm CoreLogic estimated on Friday that Ida’s storm surge is threatening 941,392 homes. If all of these homes were destroyed and replaced, CoreLogic estimates that the cost would be $220.37bn.
The reconstruction cost value represents a worst-case scenario, CoreLogic said. For reference, the firm estimated in 2020 that Hurricane Laura may have caused $8bn-12bn in insurable losses.
Home repairs, remodelling and construction make up an important end market for several chemicals and polymers.
The white pigment titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used in paints.
Solvents used in paints and coatings include butyl acetate (butac), butyl acrylate (butyl-A), ethyl acetate (etac), glycol ethers, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and isopropanol (IPA).
Blends of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used to make paints and coatings.
For polymers, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PU) foam are used in insulation.
Polyurethanes are made of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyols.
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is used in pipe. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used to make cladding, window frames, wires and cables, flooring and roofing membranes.
Unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) are used to make coatings and composites.
Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is used to make paints and adhesives.
Additional reporting by Al Greenwood, Annalise Porter, Janet Miranda
August 31, 2021
August 26, 2021
Dear Valued Customer,
Effective October 1, 2021 or as contracts allow, BASF Corporation is raising the price for
Lupranate MDI products by $0.12 per pound.
Your BASF Account Manager will provide details of this announced increase and is available to
answer any questions you may have. We appreciate your continued support of BASF Urethane
Chemicals.
Extra Credit for History Buffs: What is BASF an abbreviation for?
A: B adische A nilin- und S oda F abrik (German for ”Baden Aniline and Soda Factory”)
August 31, 2021
August 26, 2021
Dear Valued Customer,
Effective October 1, 2021 or as contracts allow, BASF Corporation is raising the price for
Lupranate MDI products by $0.12 per pound.
Your BASF Account Manager will provide details of this announced increase and is available to
answer any questions you may have. We appreciate your continued support of BASF Urethane
Chemicals.
Extra Credit for History Buffs: What is BASF an abbreviation for?
A: B adische A nilin- und S oda F abrik (German for ”Baden Aniline and Soda Factory”)
August 31, 2021
Surfers, Swimmers, Boaters Run Into Summer-Disrupting Fiberglass Shortage
By Brett Haensel August 30, 2021, 11:25 AM EDT
- Shortage of fiberglass affects outdoor recreation industry
- Producers, consumers face longer wait times, steeper prices
Swimming-pool construction has slowed to a crawl. Surfboard manufacturers are disappointing customers who dream of hanging 10. Waiting lists for new boats stretch on for months. There’s a common culprit: fiberglass.
The glittery, lightweight material goes into so many common outdoor products that it’s hard to imagine summertime without it. The supply-chain snarls show how broader forces in international trade, supply and demand have rippled through industries in the past year, leading to higher prices and slowing commerce.
Fiberglass is made by extruding glass into strands measured in microns that are then combined and woven in various ways. Some pool manufacturers use fiberglass exclusively. Most surfboards include a foam core wrapped in fiberglass and resin, and the hulls of most modern boats also are built with those composite materials. It’s used in car parts and recreational vehicles, among other things.
But manufacturing has been hobbled by a shortage of fiberglass cloth and liquid vinyl ester resin, which have gotten scarce and expensive. Some retailers are turning away paying customers, many of whom turned to outdoor recreation to cope with the pandemic.
“It’s very, very painful to have to tell people that they can’t run their businesses because you can’t give them raw materials, nor can you refer them to anybody else that can,” said Kent Wooldridge, president of the United Marine Manufacturers Association, a group that assists independent boat and pool builders. If anyone has raw materials, he said, “they charge outlandish amounts.”
With so many industries hungry for composites, suppliers have been overwhelmed. New tariffs and damage to resin-producing chemical plants caused by winter storms in Texas were “catastrophes,” said Duke Aipa, president of board manufacturer Aipa Surf Co.
Trade Tit-For-Tat
The U.S. produces just a fraction of the world’s fiberglass cloth and has grown reliant on cheap supplies from China. But the trade was snagged by the Trump administration’s hard line trade policy. In 2018, the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on imported fiberglass cloth and resin.
In response, Chinese manufacturers diverted supply to their domestic market and increased export prices. The nation already had begun to prioritize materials for strategic use such as electricity-generating windmills — which require fiberglass for turbine blades.
The pandemic last year further exacerbated supply-chain challenges when Chinese fiberglass plants were shut down and global demand took off for recreational products.
“We have this domino effect of a trade situation, a pandemic, high demand in the U.S., high demand in China and the Chinese redirecting glass fiber supply into China and increasing the cost of glass fiber in the U.S.,” said Jeff Sloan, editor of CompositesWorld, which covers the industry. “It’s probably going to be the fall or even into early winter before some of this starts to iron out.”
The already difficult situation was worsened by severe weather that struck at the heart of US. petrochemical production.
Force of Nature
A winter storm this year brought subfreezing temperatures to Texas, overwhelming much of its electricity infrastructure and shutting down key chemical manufacturing plants in the Houston area. The storm forced two of the country’s largest epoxy producers — Olin Corp. and Hexion Inc. — to turn off the lights at their Gulf Coast facilities.
That made resin nearly nonexistent. Even now, about six months removed from the freeze, businesses are having difficulty finding the stuff.
“We get in a truckload of resin and it’s all sold out immediately. It’s all pre-sold before we even receive it,” said Wooldridge, the association leader. “Then, we’re completely out until we get the next container. It’s been that way for months.”
Consider the cost of other raw materials, labor, and shipping containers — the price of which has risen to upward of $20,000 from about $2,000 — and it’s clear why many recreational-product distributors and retailers can’t restock inventory.
Florida pool builder Kirk Sullivan has had to deliver a difficult message to customers looking for a summer splash. The owner of San Juan Pools recently refunded the deposits of some 250 orders and had to tell other prospective buyers his company is backlogged through next year.
“I’m at the feeding trough of a lot of other industries” that also use resin, said Sullivan, who estimates he’s lost $22 million in business from short supplies.
Holding Pattern
Sullivan said this summer suppliers allotted him only 70% of the volume he received during the winter off-season. With resin availability also limited, his business hasn’t been able to take new orders. But he’s kept all his employees on the payroll to be ready for whenever materials start appearing again at normal prices and volumes.
Whereas once it took as little as six weeks to receive a Surf Hardware International board, now it can take six months, according to regional manager Todd Prestage.
Manufacturers have tried to get creative by, for example, importing more materials from Southeast Asian countries not affected by higher tariffs. But there are few quick workarounds, so consumers are paying more.
Aipa said surfboards that used to cost $750 are now going for around $1,000 — a price supported by loyalty to a brand that dates to 1970. Companies with shorter track records and lesser known brands might not be able to command those premiums.
“I feel bad for those who don’t have bigger brand names, because these price increases are really going to affect their livelihoods,” Aipa said. “We’re just fortunate to be in the position we’re in right now.”
August 31, 2021
Surfers, Swimmers, Boaters Run Into Summer-Disrupting Fiberglass Shortage
By Brett Haensel August 30, 2021, 11:25 AM EDT
- Shortage of fiberglass affects outdoor recreation industry
- Producers, consumers face longer wait times, steeper prices
Swimming-pool construction has slowed to a crawl. Surfboard manufacturers are disappointing customers who dream of hanging 10. Waiting lists for new boats stretch on for months. There’s a common culprit: fiberglass.
The glittery, lightweight material goes into so many common outdoor products that it’s hard to imagine summertime without it. The supply-chain snarls show how broader forces in international trade, supply and demand have rippled through industries in the past year, leading to higher prices and slowing commerce.
Fiberglass is made by extruding glass into strands measured in microns that are then combined and woven in various ways. Some pool manufacturers use fiberglass exclusively. Most surfboards include a foam core wrapped in fiberglass and resin, and the hulls of most modern boats also are built with those composite materials. It’s used in car parts and recreational vehicles, among other things.
But manufacturing has been hobbled by a shortage of fiberglass cloth and liquid vinyl ester resin, which have gotten scarce and expensive. Some retailers are turning away paying customers, many of whom turned to outdoor recreation to cope with the pandemic.
“It’s very, very painful to have to tell people that they can’t run their businesses because you can’t give them raw materials, nor can you refer them to anybody else that can,” said Kent Wooldridge, president of the United Marine Manufacturers Association, a group that assists independent boat and pool builders. If anyone has raw materials, he said, “they charge outlandish amounts.”
With so many industries hungry for composites, suppliers have been overwhelmed. New tariffs and damage to resin-producing chemical plants caused by winter storms in Texas were “catastrophes,” said Duke Aipa, president of board manufacturer Aipa Surf Co.
Trade Tit-For-Tat
The U.S. produces just a fraction of the world’s fiberglass cloth and has grown reliant on cheap supplies from China. But the trade was snagged by the Trump administration’s hard line trade policy. In 2018, the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on imported fiberglass cloth and resin.
In response, Chinese manufacturers diverted supply to their domestic market and increased export prices. The nation already had begun to prioritize materials for strategic use such as electricity-generating windmills — which require fiberglass for turbine blades.
The pandemic last year further exacerbated supply-chain challenges when Chinese fiberglass plants were shut down and global demand took off for recreational products.
“We have this domino effect of a trade situation, a pandemic, high demand in the U.S., high demand in China and the Chinese redirecting glass fiber supply into China and increasing the cost of glass fiber in the U.S.,” said Jeff Sloan, editor of CompositesWorld, which covers the industry. “It’s probably going to be the fall or even into early winter before some of this starts to iron out.”
The already difficult situation was worsened by severe weather that struck at the heart of US. petrochemical production.
Force of Nature
A winter storm this year brought subfreezing temperatures to Texas, overwhelming much of its electricity infrastructure and shutting down key chemical manufacturing plants in the Houston area. The storm forced two of the country’s largest epoxy producers — Olin Corp. and Hexion Inc. — to turn off the lights at their Gulf Coast facilities.
That made resin nearly nonexistent. Even now, about six months removed from the freeze, businesses are having difficulty finding the stuff.
“We get in a truckload of resin and it’s all sold out immediately. It’s all pre-sold before we even receive it,” said Wooldridge, the association leader. “Then, we’re completely out until we get the next container. It’s been that way for months.”
Consider the cost of other raw materials, labor, and shipping containers — the price of which has risen to upward of $20,000 from about $2,000 — and it’s clear why many recreational-product distributors and retailers can’t restock inventory.
Florida pool builder Kirk Sullivan has had to deliver a difficult message to customers looking for a summer splash. The owner of San Juan Pools recently refunded the deposits of some 250 orders and had to tell other prospective buyers his company is backlogged through next year.
“I’m at the feeding trough of a lot of other industries” that also use resin, said Sullivan, who estimates he’s lost $22 million in business from short supplies.
Holding Pattern
Sullivan said this summer suppliers allotted him only 70% of the volume he received during the winter off-season. With resin availability also limited, his business hasn’t been able to take new orders. But he’s kept all his employees on the payroll to be ready for whenever materials start appearing again at normal prices and volumes.
Whereas once it took as little as six weeks to receive a Surf Hardware International board, now it can take six months, according to regional manager Todd Prestage.
Manufacturers have tried to get creative by, for example, importing more materials from Southeast Asian countries not affected by higher tariffs. But there are few quick workarounds, so consumers are paying more.
Aipa said surfboards that used to cost $750 are now going for around $1,000 — a price supported by loyalty to a brand that dates to 1970. Companies with shorter track records and lesser known brands might not be able to command those premiums.
“I feel bad for those who don’t have bigger brand names, because these price increases are really going to affect their livelihoods,” Aipa said. “We’re just fortunate to be in the position we’re in right now.”
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