C4 chemical maker TPC misses debt payment

TPC Group, which extracts butadiene and other chemicals from crude C4 streams, missed $53 million in interest payments due Feb. 1. The company struck a forbearance agreement with its creditors that will allow it to avoid a painful default if it does not make a payment within the 30-day grace period. The creditors are also extending TPC another $52 million by buying additional bonds. The firm has been beset by difficulties in recent years. In late 2019, a fire took out its Port Neches, Texas, plant. It then suffered from slow demand in 2020 and a freeze in Texas in early 2021. TPC also had a fire at a technical center last year.