Taiwan's Formosa seeks spot BD after cracker explosion

12 July 2010 09:20  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPC) is seeking 6,000 tonnes of spot butadiene (BD) following an explosion at its No 1 naphtha cracker in Mailiao, Taiwan, that will keep its BD unit shut for two months, traders said on Monday.

“China has available 6,000 tonnes of BD for export in August and discussions have only just been initiated with Formosa,” a Chinese trader said.

However, no further details were available on the discussions.

Market sources said that the Chinese were looking to sell BD at around $1,800/tonne (€1,422/tonne) FOB (free on board) China, but that had not been confirmed.

Following the explosion on 7 July, FPC shut down its downstream 109,000 tonne/year BD extraction unit for a period of two months, according to market sources.

The company said earlier that it might have to cancel its July and August BD shipments, as a result of the shutdown.

However, Formosa's customers told ICIS that the company's July and August BD contract volume would be subject to allocation instead.

“We understand that we will only be able to receive about 50% of our BD contract volume in July and 75% of our contract volume in August,” a Taiwan-based customer said.

FPC declined to comment on the matter.

($1 = €0.79)

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By: Helen Yan
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