(Bloomberg) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp. has yet to decide when it will start its No. 1 naphtha cracker and whether it will carry out maintenance at a second unit, originally planned for September. It's still ⌠unclear whether Formosa Petrochemical will shut the No. 3 ethylene plant for work it had scheduled for the third or fourth quarter, Lin Keh-yen, a company spokesman, said by phone from Taipei. Maintenance was planned to last 40 days to 45 days, Lin said in March. Formosa also can't confirm the start-up date for the No. 1 unit, which was halted following a fire at a pipe in the Mailiao oil refining and petrochemicals complex, Lin said.
The suspended ethylene plant has an annual capacity of 700 KT and accounts for about 24% of the refiner's output capacity of the raw material, used in plastics and fabrics, according to the company's website.