Taiwan's Formosa buys more than ususal naphtha for H1 March

28-Jan-15

Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp has bought close to 200,000 tons of open-spec naphtha for H1-March arrival at Mailiao, more than its usual purchase, as per traders in Reuters. The reasons behind the higher volumes were unclear, but some traders said Formosa could be prompted to buy more ahead of its a 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) going into a 45-day maintenance mode starting March. Formosa operates a 540,000 bpd refinery in Mailiao and the shutdown of the CDU would easily wipe out at least 100,000 tonnes of naphtha production, based on traders' estimates. Formosa also operates three naphtha crackers with a total capacity of 2.93 mln tpa of ethylene, of which the smallest of three units, a 700,000 tpa cracker, will be taken down in mid-June for a 40-day maintenance. Average runs of the crackers as of now were heard at 90% capacity, traders said.