US Gulf Coast petrochemical producers were working to restart facilities that shut when a deep freeze hit the region the week of Feb. 15, but those efforts faced ups and downs amid detailed damage assessments. Some producers were finding pinhole leaks or other problems in pipes exposed to sustained sub-freezing temperatures during startup processes. Market sources said ethylene producers were working to restart crackers once shut downstream derivative plants were deemed able to restart as well. ExxonMobil, which has restarted the 826,000 mt/year cracker at its Beaumont, Texas, chemical complex, also was restarting three crackers with a combined capacity of 3.8 million mt/year at its Baytown, Texas, complex as well, according to a Feb. 26 notice the company distributed via a community hotline. Two of three US propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants also were […]