Formosa Petrochemical to restart refinery in September

Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp., Asia’s largest private ethylene producer, will restart its 540,000 barrel per day oil refinery and No. 1 naphtha cracker at Mailiao by the end of September if the ethylene plant meets government approval. The Mailiao complex has been hit by seven fires since July 2010. The complex was shut down on July 30 and the company declared force majeure on exports of petroleum products. The complex will be brought back online with limited output as the government has ordered the complex to undergo a rotational closure as a complete safety assessment is being conducted. Ethylene producer Formosa Petrochemical Corp. is a subsidiary of the Formosa Plastics Group. (August 12, 2011)