Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said an explosion at its No. 1 ethylene plant on Monday killed one person. The unit wasn’t in operation.
There was a blast at an instrument panel at about 11pm, Taipei-based spokesman Lin Keh-yen (林克彥) said by telephone. A probe into the explosion’s cause is under way, Lin said.
The 700,000 tonne-a-year No. 1 plant has been shut since January because of weak demand for the chemical that’s used to make plastics. Formosa Petrochemical, which has three ethylene plants with a combined annual capacity of 2.94 million tonnes, had planned to restart the No. 1 unit this month and close No. 3 to repair a mechanical fault.
“It’s hard to say when the No. 1 plant may be restarted,” said Erik Chang, a Taipei-based analyst at Capital Securities Corp (群益證券), who has a “sell” rating on the stock. “I’m worried about the time needed for government safety inspection, because of the fatality.”
Formosa Petrochemical last reported a fatal accident in March 2006, when a fire at a refining unit killed one worker, according to a stock exchange filing.
The refiner’s shares declined 0.4 percent to close at NT$56.30 in Taipei trading yesterday, while the benchmark TAIEX index climbed 0.21 percent.
“Production facilities are almost undamaged,” Lin said. Formosa Petrochemical would need several days to determine whether to extend the shutdown of the No. 1 unit, located in Mailiao (麥寮), he said.
The company, controlled by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), has been running the 1.2 million tonne-a-year No. 3 unit at about 70 percent of capacity and the No. 2 plant at more than 90 percent, Lin said.
“There’s no safety concern over the No. 3 plant,” Lin said. The company will keep the unit running until the No. 1 unit is back on-line, he said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS