Concern about the coronavirus spreading in construction sites have had immediate consequences and in some cases indefinitely extended timelines. Output declines were not reported by petrochemical companies in March 2020 even though the pandemic has caused construction projects to dramatically slow or even crawl to a halt.
Unlike operating plants, a much bigger number of workers concentrated at construction sites. The pandemic slows down the construction of LyondellBasell’s propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol plant in the Gulf Coast. Started in August 2018, the construction is more than 30 percent complete.
On Nova Chemicals’ new polyethylene (PE) facility and cracker expansion project in Ontario, Canada, construction work was adjusted, the company said on March 27. Nova’s move results in its total construction workforce reduced to approximately 90 percent.
On March 20, Formosa Plastics Corp. said it had “not experienced any significant impacts.” Manufacturing and distribution of products it makes still continued. Braskem also said it had not identified the pandemic impacts in its operations or sales.
