Petrochemical companies that shut down or reduced production in Mexico’s Altamira manufacturing hub in May because drought siphoned water availability were restarting output after rainfall from Tropical Storm Alberto and other storms in June replenished area reservoirs.
INEOS Styrolution (shadowed green in map below) and Orbia (shadowed blue) were restarting production at their 418 million lb/year acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and pair of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plants with a combined capacity of 1.5 billion lb/year. Carbon black producer Cabot (shadowed orange) also was ramping up output. All three had declared force majeure on those products, citing water scarcity amid extreme temperatures and drought.
