Prices rose in the export market as there was simply no spot material available. ExxonMobil’s plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana remained shutdown for the foreseeable future as the company was unconfirmed to have blown out its hyper- compressor at a 375 kt/year line. There was not enough additional LDPE production in the US to cover the losses from ExxonMobil, sources said. Another producer commented that market would likely be tight on LDPE for sometime as compressor problems are expensive and take time to fix, assuming ExxonMobil decides they want to run the asset. “You have to think that if it costs 9 figures to repair, where would you rather spend that money,” a source said.
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