UpdateTaiwan's Formosa encounters problem restarting No 2 cracker

19 November 2010 10:06  [Source: ICIS news]

(adds possible seven-day delay in restart, with recast throughout)

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Taiwanese Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC) met with problems in restarting its 1.03m tonne/year No 2 naphtha cracker in Mailiao, following a turnaround that started last month, market sources said on Friday.

The cracker, which was in the process of resuming operations on Thursday, could not restart smoothly, market sources said.

A source at FPCC said the cracker was operating at low rates, while another company source said the full restart of the cracker may be delayed by seven days from Friday.

There was no official word from FPCC.

Problems at the No 2 cracker may prompt FPCC to defer delivery of 100,000-120,000 tonnes of naphtha that was due in December to January.

FPCC runs two other naphtha crackers in Mailiao.

The 1.2m tonne/year No 3 cracker was operating at 100%, while production at the 700,000 tonne/year No 1 cracker was expected to be ramped up to full capacity in the coming weeks.

With additional reporting by Peh Soo Hwee and Becky Zhang

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