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Started By
Message
Westlake Chemical Layoffs
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:20 am
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:20 am
Westlake Chemical just announced they are closing the following
Lake Charles Area
Westlake North VCM plant(this is the whole site)
Plant A diaphragm in Westlake South. This is the oldest Chlorine/Caustic units in the south plant
Styrene unit in westlake Petro
Aberdeen Miss
PVC plant- whole plant
Europe
Epoxy/BPA facility in the Netherlands
LINK
Expected to have roughly 300 employees laid off. I would expect most actual Westlake employees to be reassigned where possible and take the place of Contractors working as representatives of Westlake. But there will be layoffs for sure.
Sounds like they are getting severance packages though but really shitty to do it right before Christmas like that.
Lake Charles Area
Westlake North VCM plant(this is the whole site)
Plant A diaphragm in Westlake South. This is the oldest Chlorine/Caustic units in the south plant
Styrene unit in westlake Petro
Aberdeen Miss
PVC plant- whole plant
Europe
Epoxy/BPA facility in the Netherlands
LINK
Expected to have roughly 300 employees laid off. I would expect most actual Westlake employees to be reassigned where possible and take the place of Contractors working as representatives of Westlake. But there will be layoffs for sure.
Sounds like they are getting severance packages though but really shitty to do it right before Christmas like that.
10
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:22 am to lsu777
Trade war got them?
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:24 am to lsu777
Time to find a good F250 on discount by some baw overspending his truck allowance.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:26 am to BabyTac
You think operators have truck allowances?
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:30 am to BabyTac
And a slightly used Nitro bass boat that they'll still ask $55,000 for
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:32 am to lsu777
quote:
Plant A diaphragm in Westlake South. This is the oldest Chlorine/Caustic units in the south plant
Is that the one that blew up after Laura and spiked Chlorine prices for pool owners?
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:32 am to stout
quote:
Trade war got them?
Na this has been coming
at least with the VCM and diaphragm units. That VCM plant was the least profitable of the fleet due to older tech. It was sold to Georgia Gulf by Vista in 99 before Condea bought the rest of the facility. Always been a headache to run with very tight margins.
Same with the diaphragm unit in Plant A at south plant. Plant A is the original magnessium plant built for the war effort and then converted to chlorine/Caustic later. Would cost hundreds of millions to convert it over to the new membrane technology. Membrane caustic is much more in demand because its way more pure, so the demand for diaphragm caustic already was low and the facility was just requiring more and more maintenance just to keep it up and running.
Styrene unit has been in trouble for a while, they have been down to 1 customer for like 5 years and has been running batches from what i understand. So only a matter of time that they said screw it
overall the chemical market is very very tight though. Would look for lots of consolidation and closing of facilities over the next year or two.
overall global ecomony is just not good and these are global businesses.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:33 am to lsu777
They are losing a lot of operators in other units to the LNG plants so hopefully that operators in plants being shut down will get moved to another unit.
Westlake in years past have been good about that.
Westlake in years past have been good about that.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:33 am to Tarps99
quote:
Is that the one that blew up after Laura and spiked Chlorine prices for pool owners?
no that was Biolab. they took chlorine from Westlake and processed it to make tablets and pool chemicals.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:34 am to Ole Mule
quote:
They are losing a lot of operators in other units to the LNG plants so hopefully that operators in plants being shut down will get moved to another unit.
Westlake in years past have been good about that.
thats what I expect but not sure they will be able to take care of everyone this time. I would imagine most in Louisiana will.
but Mississippi and europe...na
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:35 am to Ole Mule
quote:
hopefully that operators in plants being shut down will get moved to another unit.
I believe they’re providing severance packages.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:35 am to stout
quote:
Time to find a good F250 on discount by some baw overspending his truck allowance.
quote:
You think operators have truck allowances?
well its Babytac....your shouldnt expect anything else.
dude is a fricking idiot. quite possibly the dumbest person on this board from an IQ standpoint besides PJ in terms of regular posters.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:37 am to lsu777
quote:
Is that the one that blew up after Laura and spiked Chlorine prices for pool owners?
no that was Biolab. they took chlorine from Westlake and processed it to make tablets and pool chemicals.
If the Chlorine unit is shut down, will that trickle down to Biolab or did Bio lab not rebuild?
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:40 am to lsu777
quote:
overall global ecomony is just not good and these are global businesses.
Asia putting a lot of exports into the market.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:41 am to lsu777
quote:
been running batches from what i understand. So only a matter of time that they said screw it
Styrene unit doesn’t run batches
It takes several days to start up or shut down the unit
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:42 am to Ole Mule
quote:
Styrene unit doesn’t run batches
It takes several days to start up or shut down the unit
ok, just going off what i was told, unfamiliar with their process. but that was told to me by someone in that plant now.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:44 am to Tarps99
quote:
If the Chlorine unit is shut down, will that trickle down to Biolab or did Bio lab not rebuild?
they will still get it from Plant C in Westlake South, which is the most profitable Diaphragm plant and the newest or they will get it from the membrane unit at westlake south.
Biolab did rebuild
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:47 am to lsu777
I started that thing up in 1992 and ran it till I retired this past Feb.
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:48 am to Ole Mule
quote:
I started that thing up in 1992 and ran it till I retired this past Feb.
well you would know
Posted on 12/15/25 at 9:50 am to lsu777
quote:
really shitty to do it right before Christmas like that
people always say this, but I think most would rather know they are getting the axe before the holidays. Could at least cut back on spending.
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