CPC says eighth naphtha cracker plan still on track

Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) said it is still considering a plan to construct a NT$603 billion naphtha cracker complex in Pingtung County, despite the fact that it may face difficulty acquiring land there, a high-ranking company executive said yesterday.

"Pingtung's Nanchou Township is still the first choice for the Eighth Naphtha Cracker Plant," vice president Chen Po-lang (陳寶郎) told the Taipei Times.

"We along with our partners are still negotiating with the local government on the land acquisition issue," he said.

Under the plan, Chinese Petroleum will fund 35 percent of the establishment costs, while its partners share the remaining 65 percent of the investment.

Other major participants in the project include the Koo's Group (和信集團), Lee Chang Yung Chemical Industry Corp (李長榮化工), China Petrochemical Development Corp (中石化), Ho Tung Chemical Corp (和桐化學), Grand Pacific Petrochemical Corp (國喬), Taiwan Polypropylene Co (福聚) and Taiwan Styrene Mono-mer Corp (台灣苯乙烯).

Chen said a report in a local newspaper yesterday that the company may call off the project due to land problems was untrue.

But he said there is an alternative plan to continue the project at a reclaimed site in Yunlin County's Hsinshin area, if land in Pingtung cannot be acquired.

The project was first raised in October 1995. Last October Chinese Petroleum announced it was renewing the project but there has been no real progress.

"Even if our partners reject the alternative site and decide not to rejoin the project ... we are can financially undertake the project ourselves," Chen said.