US propylene production totaled 8.352 billion lb in the fourth quarter of 2017, up more than 530 million lb from the Q3 total of 7.822 billion lb, data from the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers showed Wednesday.

Fourth quarter production was up 452 million lb from Q4 2016 output of almost 7.90 billion lb, according to the AFPM.

Propylene sourced from steam crackers, metathesis and propane dehydrogenation plants totaled 3.426 billion lb in Q4, up from 3.348 billion lb in Q3. Production of propylene from these sources totaled 13.307 billion lb for 2017, down from 13.737 billion lb for 2016.

Refinery sourced propylene production totaled 4.927 billion lb in Q4, up from 4.474 billion lb in Q3. For the year, refinery sourced propylene totaled 18.940 billion lb, up from 18.336 billion lb in 2016.

US propylene production in the 2017 totaled 32.247 billion lb, 173.5 million lb above the 2016 total of 32.073 billion lb.

US propylene inventories at the end of Q4 2017 were 1.380 billion lb, down from a revised total of 1.635 billion lb at the end of Q3.

Refinery propylene inventories were 536.7 million lb at the end of Q4, a build of 79.5 million lb from Q3, the data showed. Chemical process sourced propylene inventories fell to 764,177 million lb, down from 1.092 billion lb at the end of Q3.

Source : Platts