Williams starts up expanded US Gulf ethylene site after unexpected delay
2/3/2015 12:00:00 AM
Williams Partners today announced its expanded Geismar plant is expected to begin manufacturing ethylene for sale in February after experiencing an unexpected delay in the final stages of commissioning.
The plant was taken down from its final ramp-up procedure after it was determined that a brazed aluminum heat exchanger became plugged, requiring cleaning and maintenance.
This additional and unanticipated work is complete, and the plant will be turned back over to operations today to resume start-up.
“We are focused on safely bringing the plant into sustainable operations, restoring the reliable supply of olefins to our customers,” said John Dearborn, senior vice president of the NGL and petrochemical services business at Williams.
Capacity at the expanded Geismar plant is 1.95 billion lb/year of ethylene. Williams Partners’ share of the total capacity of the expanded plant is approximately 1.7 billion lb/year.
Williams owns controlling interest in and is the general partner of Williams Partners. The partnership said it will provide an additional update on the status of the plant’s operations on or before a scheduled Feb. 19 investor conference call.
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