A new olefins gas cracker has started operations in Westlake, LA, leveraging natural gas supply to resume operations at the once idled plant.

Global chemical company Indorama Ventures Public Company Ltd. (IVL) began ramping up the Indorama Ventures Olefins plant on Jan. 31, with the facility already achieving an operating rate of more than 80%, according to management.

The site has an ethylene production capacity of 440 kilotons/year and is strategically positioned in the U.S. Gulf Coast for long-term captive ethylene supplies to the Indorama Ventures Oxide and Glycols (IVOG) plant in Clear Lake, TX, as well as the company’s recently acquired integrated ethylene oxide and propylene oxide assets in Port Neches, TX.

“This is a significant milestone for IVL and a strategic step forward in expanding our North American portfolio and footprint,” said IVL’s Dilip Kumar Agarwal, CEO of PET and Integrated Oxides and Derivatives. “The new plant is very strategic to the continual growth of IVL’s Integrated Oxides and Derivatives segment, in line with the company’s strategy.”

Thailand-based IVL acquired the Indorama Ventures Olefins plant in 2015. It also operates intermediate petrochemical manufacturing sites in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.