Formosa petrochemical has eighth fire at mailiao refinery

Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s biggest diversified industrial company, said a fire broke out in a refining unit at its Mailiao complex today, at least the eighth blaze in about 14 months at the site.

A leak caused the fire during the start of an alkylation unit in Formosa Petrochemical Corp.’s refinery, Hsueh Ching- hsien, a spokesman for Formosa Plastics, its parent company, said in a telephone interview from Taipei. It was extinguished after about 28 minutes, he said. An alkylation unit produces chemicals used in gasoline blending.

Formosa Petrochemical halted its 540,000 barrel-a-day Mailiao plant after a fire on July 30. Seven blazes at the complex in 13 months had prompted the Taiwan government to demand the group draw up a schedule for the shutdown and inspection of its plants. The company’s August sales declined 30 percent from a year earlier, it said in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange yesterday.

Formosa Petrochemical rose 1 percent to close at NT$79.90 in Taipei before the incident today. The stock has fallen 19 percent this year, compared with an 18 percent decline in the benchmark Taiex index.