China: Taiwan Formosa awaits green light on bid to delay cracker turnaround

Chemical News: China: Taiwan Formosa awaits green light on bid to delay cracker turnaround

https://www.chemnet.com Jul 27,2010
Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical is awaiting a decision from the government
on whether it can postpone a scheduled turnaround at its No. 2 naphtha-fed
steam cracker in Mailiao from August to October, a company source said Monday.

The company made an application in mid July to postpone the 40-45 day
turnaround at the No. 2 unit that was scheduled to begin on August 21,
following a July 7 fire at its No. 1 steam cracker.

The No. 1 unit -- which is able to produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene
and 350,000 mt/year of propylene -- has been offline since the July 7 fire.

The No. 2 unit is able to produce 1.03 million mt/year of ethylene and
515,000 mt/year of propylene.

However, the company source said Monday that the application to delay the
turnaround at the No. 2 unit may not be approved by the government due to the
company's poor safety record.

"We had two fires within one month. Our safety record is not good," the
source said.

A second fire broke out at Formosa's integrated oil and petrochemical
complex in Mailiao late Sunday, forcing several units to shut. The No. 2 steam
cracker and the No. 3 steam cracker -- which is able to produce 1.2 million
mt/year of ethylene and 600,000 mt/year of propylene -- were unaffected by
both fires and are currently operating normally. The No. 1 steam cracker
remains offline.
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