The Urethane Blog
Everchem Updates
VOLUME XXI
September 14, 2023
Everchem’s exclusive Closers Only Club is reserved for only the highest caliber brass-baller salesmen in the chemical industry. Watch the hype video and be introduced to the top of the league: — read more
August 31, 2020
August 28, 2020
Dear Valued Customer,
Effective September 8, 2020 or as contracts allow, BASF Corporation is raising the price for all Lupranate® TDI products by $0.10 per pound, and all Pluracol® polyol products by $0.07 per pound.
Your BASF Account Manager will provide further details of this announced increase and is available to answer any questions you may have. We appreciate your continued support for BASF Urethane Chemicals.
August 31, 2020
Dow reports no major damage from Hurricane Laura
Fri August 28, 2020 9:30 AM|Business Wire|About: DOW
MIDLAND, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Dow (NYSE: DOW) today issued a statement that its sites along the U.S. Gulf Coast reported no major damage from Hurricane Laura. The safety of Dow employees is our first priority and the vast majority of employees have been accounted for and are safe. We are offering recovery assistance for employees and impacted communities.
Dow has robust weather preparedness plans and began implementing them as Hurricane Laura approached. Due to the projected intensity and path of the storm, our manufacturing site in Freeport, Texas, continued operating, as did our facilities across Louisiana. Dow’s sites in Sabine, Beaumont, Deer Park, La Porte, Bayport and Texas City safely shut down operations prior to Laura making landfall.
Once it was safe to do so, inspection crews at the sites began assessing the impact of the storm. At this time, we have not identified any significant structural damage or flooding at any of the facilities.
We are beginning the process of restarting our sites and expect that Deer Park, La Porte, Bayport and Texas City will be fully operational on Tuesday. While our sites in Sabine and Beaumont experienced very minor damage, startup of these assets will progress as external infrastructure allows. While Dow experienced very limited logistics impacts due to the storm, we continue to assess impacts to infrastructure in the region.
Dow’s thoughts are with the Gulf Coast region. We are working closely with our Dow families and local partners to help support our colleagues and communities recover from any damages as a result of the storm.
https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17987523-dow-reports-no-major-damage-from-hurricane-laura
August 31, 2020
Dow reports no major damage from Hurricane Laura
Fri August 28, 2020 9:30 AM|Business Wire|About: DOW
MIDLAND, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Dow (NYSE: DOW) today issued a statement that its sites along the U.S. Gulf Coast reported no major damage from Hurricane Laura. The safety of Dow employees is our first priority and the vast majority of employees have been accounted for and are safe. We are offering recovery assistance for employees and impacted communities.
Dow has robust weather preparedness plans and began implementing them as Hurricane Laura approached. Due to the projected intensity and path of the storm, our manufacturing site in Freeport, Texas, continued operating, as did our facilities across Louisiana. Dow’s sites in Sabine, Beaumont, Deer Park, La Porte, Bayport and Texas City safely shut down operations prior to Laura making landfall.
Once it was safe to do so, inspection crews at the sites began assessing the impact of the storm. At this time, we have not identified any significant structural damage or flooding at any of the facilities.
We are beginning the process of restarting our sites and expect that Deer Park, La Porte, Bayport and Texas City will be fully operational on Tuesday. While our sites in Sabine and Beaumont experienced very minor damage, startup of these assets will progress as external infrastructure allows. While Dow experienced very limited logistics impacts due to the storm, we continue to assess impacts to infrastructure in the region.
Dow’s thoughts are with the Gulf Coast region. We are working closely with our Dow families and local partners to help support our colleagues and communities recover from any damages as a result of the storm.
https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17987523-dow-reports-no-major-damage-from-hurricane-laura
August 28, 2020
Hurricane Laura may cause up to $12bn in losses – analytical firm
Author: Al Greenwood
2020/08/28
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Hurricane Laura likely caused $8bn-12bn in insurable losses to property in Louisiana and Texas, a real-estate information provider said on Friday.
Out of the damages, 1/3 could be residential and 2/3 could be commercial, said David Smith, senior leader of science and analytics at CoreLogic. He made his comments during a presentation held by the company.
This split accounts for the office buildings, casinos and petrochemical plants in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is about 50 miles (80 km) from where Hurricane Laura made landfall, Smith said.
Louisiana suffered most of the damage, he said.
CoreLogic is still developing models for any damage to offshore oil and gas platforms, Smith said. So far, it does not expect any significant damage. Because Laura strengthened so rapidly, it did not have time to form large waves that could cause a lot of damage to platforms.
Insured storm-surge losses contributed less than $500m of the total, CoreLogic said.
Meanwhile, more than 626,000 homes were exposed to tropical-force winds or higher, CoreLogic said.
Construction is 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 isopropnaol (IPA).
Blends of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used to make paints and coatings.
For polymers, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PUR) foam are used in insulation.
Polyurethanes are made of methylene diphenyl diisocycanate (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.
For VAM, while the do-it-yourself (DIY) segment for home construction has kept domestic demand up for end-use paints and coatings, prolonged lockdowns in the western hemisphere due to the coronavirus impeded a more substantial growth for the material’s many end uses.
As more countries come out of lockdown, demand for the product is seen slowly returning.
Hurricane Laura made landfall early on Thursday in Louisiana near the border with Texas. It was a category 4 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 miles/hour (240 km/hour).
Laura has since weakened into a tropical depression, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 30 miles/hour (45 km/hour), the National Hurricane Center said in its last update on the storm. As of 400 hours Central time (900 hours GMT) on Friday, Laura was 95 miles (155 km) west-northwest of Memphis, Tennessee.
A few tornadoes could form later in the day, the centre said. On Saturday, the storm should produce 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) of rain.
Now that the storm has passed, several chemical plants have begun to restart operations.
COMPARISON WITH RITA
Laura followed a similar path as Hurricane Rita, which made landfall in 2005, said Smith of CoreLogic. Laura was slightly east, so that affected which areas suffered the most damage.
Rita was a category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles/hour, Smith said.
At the time, Rita was a $6.4bn insured loss, he said. If it happened today, the total would be $13bn.
Additional reporting by Anna Matherne
August 28, 2020
Hurricane Laura may cause up to $12bn in losses – analytical firm
Author: Al Greenwood
2020/08/28
HOUSTON (ICIS)–Hurricane Laura likely caused $8bn-12bn in insurable losses to property in Louisiana and Texas, a real-estate information provider said on Friday.
Out of the damages, 1/3 could be residential and 2/3 could be commercial, said David Smith, senior leader of science and analytics at CoreLogic. He made his comments during a presentation held by the company.
This split accounts for the office buildings, casinos and petrochemical plants in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is about 50 miles (80 km) from where Hurricane Laura made landfall, Smith said.
Louisiana suffered most of the damage, he said.
CoreLogic is still developing models for any damage to offshore oil and gas platforms, Smith said. So far, it does not expect any significant damage. Because Laura strengthened so rapidly, it did not have time to form large waves that could cause a lot of damage to platforms.
Insured storm-surge losses contributed less than $500m of the total, CoreLogic said.
Meanwhile, more than 626,000 homes were exposed to tropical-force winds or higher, CoreLogic said.
Construction is 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 isopropnaol (IPA).
Blends of aliphatic and aromatic solvents are also used to make paints and coatings.
For polymers, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PUR) foam are used in insulation.
Polyurethanes are made of methylene diphenyl diisocycanate (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.
For VAM, while the do-it-yourself (DIY) segment for home construction has kept domestic demand up for end-use paints and coatings, prolonged lockdowns in the western hemisphere due to the coronavirus impeded a more substantial growth for the material’s many end uses.
As more countries come out of lockdown, demand for the product is seen slowly returning.
Hurricane Laura made landfall early on Thursday in Louisiana near the border with Texas. It was a category 4 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 miles/hour (240 km/hour).
Laura has since weakened into a tropical depression, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 30 miles/hour (45 km/hour), the National Hurricane Center said in its last update on the storm. As of 400 hours Central time (900 hours GMT) on Friday, Laura was 95 miles (155 km) west-northwest of Memphis, Tennessee.
A few tornadoes could form later in the day, the centre said. On Saturday, the storm should produce 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) of rain.
Now that the storm has passed, several chemical plants have begun to restart operations.
COMPARISON WITH RITA
Laura followed a similar path as Hurricane Rita, which made landfall in 2005, said Smith of CoreLogic. Laura was slightly east, so that affected which areas suffered the most damage.
Rita was a category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles/hour, Smith said.
At the time, Rita was a $6.4bn insured loss, he said. If it happened today, the total would be $13bn.
Additional reporting by Anna Matherne
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