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Formosa Plastics Group posts record annual revenues

Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation's largest petrochemical conglomerate, reported nearly NT$2 trillion (US$61.97 billion) in revenue last year and expects another year of record sales this year, the group's CEO William Wong (王文淵) said at a media gathering yesterday.

The group forecasts strong demand for petrochemical products such as ethylene, and said sales would continue to enjoy growth of more than 10 percent this year.

However, Wong cautioned that the government's decision to freeze domestic fuel prices had put oil companies such as Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) at risk.

Formosa Petrochemical is the nation's second-largest fuel supplier after state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油).

"Who can stand crude oil prices at US$120 a barrel? But how are we going to face our shareholders [if profits are squeezed by the price freeze]?" he said.

Wong did not disclose the group's earnings last year, but said that employees enjoyed a year-end bonus of 6.47 months of salary, up from 5.7 months a year ago.

He cautioned that soaring oil prices could dampen demand, and oil refiners would be hard put to see a repeat of last year's staggering profit performance.

Wong said that Formosa Petrochemical's Sixth Naphtha Cracker was approaching its optimum productivity, as the company had completed its overall oil refinery investment at the industrial complex in Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County.

The company is considering constructing a steel mill and is conducting an environmental assessment. It is also looking for opportunities to develop alternative energy, Wong said.

In related news, Formosa Petrochemical restarted the nation's biggest ethylene plant on Tuesday after repairing a pipe leakage, a company official said.

The plant should be operating at full capacity today, company spokesman Lin Keh-yen (林克彥) said by telephone.

The facility, which is capable of producing 1.2 million tonnes of ethylene a year, was closed on Jan. 10.
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