Damage from Hurricane Laura on the US Gulf Coast (see Plasteurope.com of 03.09.2020) has wrought havoc on third-quarter earnings and sales at Westlake Chemical (Houston, Texas / USA; www.westlake.com), with lost production and higher maintenance costs cutting net income 64% to USD 57m (EUR 49m). The company also suffered the headwinds of higher feedstock costs and restructuring charges. Operating income fell 65% to USD 79m, and sales declined 8.13% to USD 1.89 bn.

Westlake said many of its facilities in the area of Louisiana’s Lake Charles – home to about one-third of its global chemical production capacity – suffered outages. These resulted in lower sales volumes that eventually crimped revenues. Those at the vinyls segment fell 5.5% to USD 1.53 bn, while the olefins number was down 18% to USD 369m.

Restructuring costs of USD 34m in the European vinyls business also helped diminish that segment’s operating income by 73% to USD 42m. The declines were partially offset by increased earnings in the downstream vinyls products businesses and lower fuel costs.

The operating income for olefines dropped 45% to USD 41m due to the impact of Hurricane Laura and higher feedstock costs, but it improved compared with the second quarter of this year on higher sales prices for polyethylene.