Mark Costa, CEO of Eastman Chemical Company, said recently that the company is taking steps to reduce ethylene production at the Longview production site in Texas, and it is expected that the effect of this year's and next year's production cuts will gradually emerge.
He said that Eastman Chemical is deploying the feedstock composition of the cracker to reduce ethane feed in the feedstock composition and maximize propane feed to reduce ethylene production while maximizing propylene production. In 2019, Eastman Chemicals will invest modestly to increase the flexibility of the cracker to increase polymer-grade propylene production. Although this will significantly reduce ethylene production and increase propane purchases, this will allow the company to suffer the least loss from spot ethylene prices. When the ethylene market conditions improved and prices became more attractive, the company re-adjusted the process to produce more ethylene.