WESTLAKE, La. (KPLC) – The Westlake Corporation has announced today that the company has approved a plan to cease operations of certain chlorovinyl production facilities, including:
- Its polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) plant at the Aberdeen, Mississippi site, which has an annual capacity of approximately 1 billion pounds of suspension PVC resin.
- Its vinyl chloride monomer (“VCM”) plant at the Lake Charles, Louisiana North site, which has an annual capacity of approximately 910 million pounds of VCM.
- One of its diaphragm chlor-alkali units at the Lake Charles, Louisiana South site, which has an annual capacity of approximately 825 million pounds of chlorine and 910 million pounds of caustic soda.
The Company also approved a plan to cease operation of its styrene production plant located at the Lake Charles, Louisiana site, which has an annual production capacity of approximately 570 million pounds of styrene.
The cessation of these operations is set to take place this month, Dec. 2025. It is expected to result in a workforce reduction of approximately 295 employees.
The company says 195 of those employees will be in Calcasieu. Non-collective bargaining (non-union) employees will be fully paid and have benefits for 60 days. The 75 collective bargaining (union) employees will have their benefits negotiated with the union.
Chip Swearngan, Head of Communications and Government Relations at Westlake says the company’s goal is to safely shut down all three facilities by the end of the year. The Styrene plant will be operating until sometime after Christmas, then will be safely shut down by the end of the year. The North facility was down for a turnaround, and the South facility has also been brought down for maintenance.
Swearngen says the decisions came down to economics, “It’s difficult news to deliver, so our thoughts are with our employees, those impacted and those not impacted. We’re grateful for all of their contributions.”
Westlake President and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Gilson said the following:
“Given the persistent, challenging market conditions facing the global commodities chemicals industry, as part of our evaluation of business operations, we have made the difficult decision to cease operation of three units within our North American Chlorovinyls business and cease operations of our Styrene manufacturing unit, located in Lake Charles, Louisiana. We will continue to supply our chlorovinyl customers with products produced at our other North American Chlorovinyls manufacturing facilities.
I want to recognize the dedication and contributions of all our employees, including the ones who will be leaving us. We appreciate their contribution over the years. We are committed to treating everyone impacted with respect and our focus is on supporting them through their transition.”
You can read the company’s statements in full on their website HERE.
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