Recent explosion at Formosa’s oil refinery in Mailiao could impact company’s PP production in China

28-Jul-10

The recent explosion at Formosa cracker No 1. in Mailiao, could likely affect polypropylene production as the Group’s PP plant in China. The explosion, resulting in a shutdown at the unit has impacted almost 2 bln lbs of annual propylene monomer capacity at Mailiao, as per Plasticsnews. Formosa’s PP works in Ningbo, China, which have annual capacity of almost 1 bln lbs of PP, are partially supplied by Formosa cracker No 1. The explosion is the second to hit the Mailiao site during July. A July 7 blast knocked out a unit with about 1.5 billion lbs of annual capacity for ethylene, a polyethylene and PVC feedstock.