CPC Corp, Taiwan scales down new naphtha cracker

State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) cut the annual capacity of a planned ethylene plant by 40 percent to 600,000 tonnes because local residents objected to the project's original size.

CPC will complete the project in 2012, one year later than planned, after residents in Kaohsiung County opposed building a 1 million-tonne-a-year facility, company spokesman Liao Tsang-long (廖滄龍) said by telephone on Thursday.

"Local residents accept the new size, and we do, too," Liao said from the company's Taipei headquarters. "Now we can proceed with the project."

The Taipei-based refiner needs the plant to compete with its rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), which has newer facilities. Formosa will open its third naphtha cracker in Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County, next month, boosting its annual ethylene capacity by 1.2 million tonnes to 2.94 million.

CPC's proposed project, in Kaohsiung County, will replace the company's existing 230,000-tonne-a-year ethylene plant, known as "No. 3 naphtha cracker." The company will be able to produce 1.45 million tonnes of ethylene a year when the plant comes on line, Liao said.

The government requires CPC to get consent from local residents for construction to begin, Liao said. The change in size means CPC doesn't need additional land, as the No. 3 naphtha cracker site is enough, he said.

Separately, CPC is slated to sign a contract with Libya's National Oil Co next month after the state-run oil refinery won a bid to tap the oil field Murzuq 162 last December, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Libya is an important oil producing country and after several years of effort, CPC has won its bid to explore the oil field, the spokeswoman noted.

CPC will conduct seismic tests and will drill three exploratory wells there, she said.

The oil field is expected to produce some 500 million barrels, she added.