A fire Sunday in the residual desulfurization unit at Formosa Petrochemicals refinery in Mailiao, Taiwan, shut down several downstream operations, including its base oil plant with 10,000 b/d of API Group II capacity.
The closing of the base oil plant was reported by ICIS on July 26, citing a company source. The base oil plant began production in September 2009.
According to a Taiwan Central News Agency report July 26, the Yunlin County Environmental Protection Bureau ordered related plants at the Mailiao refinery to suspend operations immediately and to continue to reduce the amount of air pollution they produce. The bureau fined Formosa Petrochemical 1 million new Taiwan dollars (U.S. $31,000) for the fire. Another fire had occurred at the naphtha cracker complex on July 7.
Formosa Petrochemical said in a statement Monday that the July 25 fire was brought under control by noon that day, and that there were no fatalities or injuries. It asserted that the smoke produced by the fire was not toxic.
The company estimated damages at 500 million new Taiwan dollars (U.S. $15.6 million).
By press time, Formosa Petrochemical had not responded to Lube Reports inquiries about the base oil plant shutdown.