Indian SM imports could be affected by gas leak
08 May 2020
Partial map of India indicating location of Visakhapatnam
A gas leak occurred at LG Polymer India’s 118kt/yr polystyrene (PS) plant in Visakhapatnam, India on early Thursday (ICIS). The leak has been brought under control and investigation on the cause of the accident is ongoing. The PS unit is offline since late March due to India’s lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 and was preparing to resume operations before the leak. Indian styrene (SM) imports could be affected as the PS plant consumes around 10kt of feedstock SM per month, which accounts for 14% of the country’s average monthly SM cargos in 2019. This may weigh on shipments from the US, Korea and Singapore.