Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (FPCC) plans to cut runs to about 41% at its 540,000 b/d refinery in Mailiao on the west coast of Taiwan next month from around 67% this month as it prepares to shut its only operational residue desulphurizer (RDS) for maintenance, a company spokesperson said.

FPCC plans to process around 220,000 b/d in October, down from a revised 360,000 b/d this month, KY Lin said. Each of its three crude distillation units (CDU) is 180,000 b/d. In late August, it had planned to process 370,000 b/d in September, as reported.

Its No. 1 RDS will be closed on Oct. 1 for scheduled catalyst change lasting 40 days, he said. As the No. 2 RDS remains offline following a July 15 fire, and given the ongoing sluggishness in export demand for refined products, its October crude throughput will be decreased accordingly, he added. Both RDS have the same 80,500 b/d capacity.

The refiner will continue to operate only one of its two 76,000 b/d residue fluid catalytic crackers (RFCC) in October but will decrease processing rate to 59,000 b/d, or 78% because of tighter low sulfur fuel oil feedstock supply, Lin said, explaining that 'high propylene' mode effectively reduces the gasoline capacity below the 84,000 b/d stated in the company earnings report.

The unit will process existing inventory of low sulfur fuel oil stored in September. It operated one RFCC at 85% this month.

Separately, FPCC began the process of restarting its largest, 1.2 million mt/yr No. 3 cracker on Tuesday by feeding in naphtha, Lin said, adding that the run rate is being ramped up. The plant was shut on Aug. 11 for planned maintenance.

Once optimal operation is achieved, FPCC plans to run all three crackers at capacity, Lin said.

"We expect olefins market conditions to remain favorable in October and November before the seasonal lull kicks in in December," he said.

Its No. 1 unit can produce 700,000 mt/yr of ethylene and the No. 2 unit 1.035 million mt/yr.

 

--Reporting by Trisha Huang, Trisha.Huang@ihsmarkit.com;

--Editing by Raj Rajendran, Rajendran.Ramasamy@ihsmarkit.com

 

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