Millions of pounds per yeaｒ
| PRODUCER | CAPACITY* |
| Arco Polypropylene, Carson, Calif. | 450 |
| Atofina, La. Porte, Tex. | 2,200 |
| Basell North America, Bayport, Tex. | 1,300 |
| Basell North America, Lake Charles, La. | 1,000 |
| BP Chemicals, Cedar Bayou, Tex. | 600 |
| BP Chemicals, Chocolate Bayou, Tex. | 1,800 |
| BP Chemicals, Deer Park, Tex. | 870 |
| Dow, Freeport, Tex. | 550 |
| Dow, Norco, La. | 500 |
| Dow, Seadrift, Tex. | 300 |
| Epsilon, Marcus Hook, Pa. | 800 |
| Equistar, Bayport, Tex. | 400 |
| Equistar, Morris, Ill. | 280 |
| ExxonMobil, Baytown, Tex. | 1,800 |
| Formosa Plastics, Point Comfort, Tex. | 1,500 |
| Huntsman, Longview, Tex. | 660 |
| Huntsman, Marysville, Mich. | 175 |
| Huntsman, Odessa, Tex. | 260 |
| Phillips Sumika, Pasadena, Tex. | 750 |
| Pinnacle Polymers, Garyville, La. | 800 |
| Sunoco, La. Porte, Tex. | 940 |
| Sunoco, Neal, W.V. | 450 |
| Total | 18,385 |
BP holds two-thirds interest in Arco Polypropylene, acquired in April 2000 when BP purchased Arco. Itochu (Japan) owns the other one-third.
Last year, Elf Atochem merged with TotalFina, which owned a PP plant in La. Porte, Tex., to form Atofina, and Montell and Targor merged to form Basell. The deal included the former Montell PP plants in Bayport, Tex., and Lake Charles, La. Epsilon Products split into two companies. One company retained the Epsilon name and the plant in Marcus Hook, Pa. This is a 50-50 joint venture of Sunoco and Washington Penn Plastics. The other company became Pinnacle Polymers and operates the PP plant in Garyville, La.
Also last year, ExxonMobil added a 600-million-pound PP plant in Baton Rouge, La., and Dow commissioned a new 550-million-pound unit at its Freeport, Tex., site. This year, Dow merged with Union Carbide, adding the PP plants in Norco, La. and Seadrift, Tex.
Earlier this year, Sunoco acquired Aristech and its PP plants in La Porte, Tex. and Neal, W.Va., from Mitsubishi Corp., and Formosa Plastics increased capacity to 800 million pounds at Point Comfort, Tex. Toward the end of the year, a new 700-million-pound unit will be commissioned at the same site, bringing the total PP capacity to 1.5 billion pounds.
In October, Huntsman announced plans to close its 60-million-pound-per-year PP line in January 2002 at its 260-million-pound-per-year facility in Odessa, Tex. The company also plans to add 75 million pounds of extra capacity through debottlenecking at Longview, Tex., and Marysville, Mich.
Also in October, Solvay and BP created a joint venture in high-density polyethylene. As a part of the deal, BP transferred its engineering polymers business to Solvay, and BP acquired Solvayﾕs PP business and its PP unit in Deer Park, Tex.
Tosco Corp. is constructing a 750-million-pound PP plant in Linden, N.J., scheduled to begin production next year. This is a joint venture with Dow (originally with Union Carbide, before the merger), which will market the PP product. Tosco is being acquired by Phillips Petroleum. The deal should close before the end of this year.
Profile last published 4/10/00; this revision, 11/19/01.