(ICIS) -- Formosa Plastics is considering
expanding its US olefins capacity as a result of cost advantages for feedstock
natural gas, but the company on Tuesday said a final decision had yet to be
made.
The company has two crackers in Point Comfort, Texas, with a combined ethylene capacity of 1.5m tonnes/year.
Despite the cost advantage derived from natural gas, Formosa expressed
concerns about increased regulation in the US, citing the Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rules scheduled to take
effect in January 2011.
"The decision to move forward [with the expansion] may depend, in part,
on the granting of a 2-year postponement of the US EPA’s uncertain greenhouse
gas permitting,” Rice said in an e-mail.
Formosa is one of several business groups in the US calling for a delay
by the EPA.
mrcplast.com
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