Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) may start a third crude distillation unit as soon as October after shutting a plant last month because of a fire.
The company currently processes 360,000 barrels of crude a day at two other units, Lin Keh-yen (林克彥), a spokesman, said by telephone.
Formosa shut its 540,000 barrels-a-day Mailiao (麥寮) refinery, which has three crude units, after an oil leak triggered a blaze at its No. 2 residual desulfurization unit on July 25.
The refiner halted operations at its No. 1 ethylene plant, which has an annual capacity of 700,000 tonnes, on July 7 after another fire. The No. 1 plant may be restarted late next month or in early October after repairs, Lin said.
The No. 2 ethylene plant may be shut by the end of next month for maintenance, later than the previously planned Aug. 20, after the No. 1 plant was halted, Lin said.
“There may be days when both the ethylene plants are closed, but it won’t be for long,” he said.
Formosa Petrochemical operates three naphtha-processing plants with a combined annual capacity of 2.935 million tonnes of ethylene, a raw material used in plastics, chemicals and synthetic fibers.
The No. 2 plant, able to produce 1.035 million tonnes of ethylene a year, will halt operations for 40 to 45 days, Lin said.
The refinery’s three crude distillation units can each process 180,000 barrels a day by heating oil and separating it into products.
Residual desulfurization units remove sulfur.
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