Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only private oil refiner, reported an 18.6 percent monthly decline in revenue for last month, citing lower oil prices and production volume.
Revenue fell to NT$62.65 billion (US$2.01 billion) last month, from NT$76.97 billion the previous month, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The figure was 22.5 percent lower than NT$80.79 billion a year ago, the filing said.
Average Dubai oil prices dropped 12 percent last month to US$76.3 a barrel from the month before, while the company’s production volume declined to 389,000 barrels a day from 523,000 barrels a day because of annual maintenance, Formosa Petrochemical president Tsao Minh (曹明) said at a press conference yesterday.
Sales of oil products account for 66 percent of Formosa Petrochemical’s revenue, the company said.
Declining oil prices also caused prices for Formosa Petrochemical’s olefin products to decrease last month, leading to sales of the products dropping by 0.7 percent last month from the month before despite rising shipments, Tsao said.
Sales of olefin products account for 26 percent of the company’s revenue, Tsao said.
Oil prices are still likely to go down further this month, but the company’s revenue would rise this month compared with last month as annual maintenance work is completed, Tsao said.
Tsao said he expects Dubai oil prices to bottom out when it reaches US$60 per barrel.
According to Tsao, the company would still report losses this month because of declining prices for its oil inventories, but the losses would be written off when oil prices rise again.
Suffering from plummeting oil prices, Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑公司), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, reported revenue of NT$16.59 billion last month, down 2.7 percent from NT$17.04 billion in October after the company cut its product prices, it said. The figure last month was down 10.4 percent from NT$18.51 billion the previous year, the filing said.
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