By Patrick Raleigh ERJ On-line news editor
Port Arthur, Texas-Sabina Petrochemicals LLC's world scale butadiene plant in Port Arthur started supplying into the Texas butadiene pipeline system for delivery to customers on 19 March. The butadiene will be used in the production of rubber and plastics in the southeast Texas area of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, Sabina said 23 March.
The Port Arthur plant unit is in start-up mode with production rates planned to increase over the next weeks. The facility will eventually supply about 410 kilotonnes of butadiene per year, Sabina's partners have announced.
Sabina is 60-percent owned by Shell Chemical Co., 16 percent by AtoFina Petrochemicals Inc., both of Houston, Texas, and 24 percent by BASF Corp, of Mount Olive, New Jersey,