FPCC’s No 1 cracker to resume full rates by May

11 April 2008 10:21  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) will continue to operate its No 1 cracker below 80% until May when operating rates will slowly be ramped up, after it was damaged last weekend, a company source said on Friday.

 

One or two out of the nine furnaces for the cracker were damaged by last week’s power outage which caused a three-day shutdown and repairs to the units would probably be completed in early May, added the source.

 

“Operating rates are about 60-65% currently and we can only operate below 80% [for] the rest of the month,” said the source.

 

Another trader added operating rates would only be restored to capacity in a month’s time.

 

The No 1 cracker, which is the company’s smallest cracker, has an ethylene capacity of 700,000 tonnes/year with mostly captive consumption. 

 

FPCC is one of the larger cracker operators in Asia with two other crackers in the same location. Its ethylene capacity from the three crackers totalled 2.8m tonnes/year.

 

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By: Kew Jia Hui
+65 6780 4359

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