Force majeure on styrene supply announced

Nova Chemicals has declared force majeure on supply of styrene monomer from the company’s Bayport, TX plant after the facility experienced a power outage. The company states that the force majeure will remain in effect until remedial work is completed and production is resumed. The outage is expected to result in a loss of approximately three weeks of production or about 100 million pounds. The loss of capacity comes at a time when inventories of styrene monomer are already low.
“With so little styrene monomer inventory at the producer or converter levels, even minor production upsets will impact Nova Chemicals’ ability, and we think the industry’s ability, to meet customer demand,” said Chris Pappas, president, styrenics, Nova Chemicals.