Huntsman Corporation has announced that has temporarily shut down its PO/MTBE manufacturing facility in Port Neches, Texas for unscheduled maintenance and repairs. The facility has an annual production capacity of 525 million pounds of PO, 260 million gallons of MTBE and 145 million pounds of propylene glycol. A separate Huntsman subsidiary's MTBE extraction unit, also located in Port Neches, Texas, with annual production capacity of 160 million gallons, remains operational.

Huntsman expects the shutdown to last for approximately 48 days which is likely to negatively affect contribution margins in the Polyurethanes and Performance Products segments by approximately $30 million in the third quarter. 

Peter Huntsman, president and CEO, said, "Safety is our top priority.

While we regret the commercial and financial impact, we believe a temporary shutdown is necessary to ensure that this facility continues to operate in a safe manner.  We are working very closely with our customers to limit the impact on their operations."

Huntsman is a global manufacturer of differentiated and commodity chemicals.  Its operating companies manufacture basic products for a variety of global industries including chemicals, footwear, and textiles.