Chevron Phillips Chemical to cease US paraxylene production

Commenting on the news that Chevron Phillips Chemical will cease paraxylene production in the U.S. at the end of this year, Gordon Haire, Wood Mackenzie Chemicals Research Director, said:

"The closure timing was mainly driven by the imminent requirement for major maintenance spend on the asset. The history of paraxylene production in the Pascagoula refinery goes all the way back to the 1960s. The assets were significantly expanded and developed through the 1990s and were part of the Axens Eluxyl technology deployment where the developments in adsorption technology were added into the existing crystallisation recovery process.

"The paraxylene capacity of the asset is 500 ktpa, which is around 11% of North American capacity and just under 1% of global capacity. Coupled with the start-up of idled PTA capacity in Portugal this year, this will have a material impact on the Western Hemisphere paraxylene industry"