Williams eyes April 2014 restart for fire-damaged olefins plant in Louisiana
Williams has an early April 2014 timeframe for restarting its fire-damaged olefins plant in Geismar, Louisiana, and bringing online an expansion that will increase ethylene production capacity by 50%.
The facility has been offline for investigatory work, damage assessment and repairs following the explosion incident on June 2013.
While the plant is offline, Williams has been able to resume expansion construction activities across the majority of the plant outside of the incident area, which is limited to the immediate vicinity of the propylene fractionator.
Based on the initial damage assessment, Williams is engaged in the engineering, procurement and demolition of impacted equipment to repair the facility.
Major items slated for replacement include piping and heat exchangers associated with the propylene fractionator, significant portions of the electrical power cable and control wiring in the plant, and support structures and piping impacted by the incident.
The company is working to reduce the duration of the repair project, which is the critical path to restart, as much as economically possible. It also said it intends to finalize the expansion project in this same timeframe.
Williams saidit continues to cooperate in a full and transparent manner with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the United States Chemical Safety Board (CSB) on their investigations into the cause of the incident.
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