Locals throng to Formosa’s Mailiao complex to demand bigger compensation, threaten to blockade off naphtha cracker

18-Aug-10

Locals thronged to Formosa’s Mailiao petrochemical complex to demand bigger compensation for alleged environmental damage caused by recent fires at the company’s upstream facilities, as per ICIS. Two different fire incidents affected two different units at Mailiao: the company's 700,000 tpa No 1 naphtha cracker was shut on 7 July, operations were disrupted at its 540,000 bpd refinery, along with a number of downstream units on 25 July. The Taiwanese major has agreed to pay residents’ damage claims, setting the overall payout cap at NT$450-500 mln (US$14-15.6 mln), as against the residents’ demands that included the payment of NT$30,000 (US$940) per resident of Mailiao in consolation money for work safety and a further NT$20,000 (US$626) per person per year. Formosa considers the amount of compensation unreasonable. These protests have not yet affected production at Formosa’s petrochemical plants within the complex. Capacities at the Mailiao complex include a 350,000 tpa high density PE (HDPE) plant, a 264,000 tpa linear low density PE (LLDPE) line and a 240,000 tpa low density PE/ethylene vinyl acetate (LDPE/EVA) swing unit, three PP plants with a combined capacity of 450,000 tpa operated by Formosa Chemicals & Fibers Corp (FCFC), 1.72 Mln tpa of paraxylene.