Formosa awaits government decision on deferral of scheduled turnaround at No. 2 naphtha cracker

27-Jul-10

Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical awaits a decision from the government on the deferral from August to October of a scheduled turnaround at its No. 2 naphtha-fed steam cracker in Mailiao with capacity to produce 1.03 mln tpa ethylene and 515,000 tpa propylene. As per Platts, an application was filed in mid July to postpone the 40-45 day turnaround scheduled to begin on August 21, after a fire broke out in first week July at its No. 1 steam cracker with capacity to produce 700,000 tpa ethylene and 350,000 tpa propylene, has been offline since the July 7 fire. The application to delay the turnaround at the No. 2 unit may not meet with government approval due to the company's poor safety record. Formosa has had two fires within a month, spoiling its safety record. The No.2 cracker and the No. 3 steam cracker were unaffected by both fires and are currently operating normally.