Taiwan's Formosa plans June run cuts owing to weak refining margins (updated)

Formosa Petrochemical

05/06/2024 09:39

(Adds May processing data in paragraph 3)
    By Mohi Narayan
       NEW DELHI, June 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Formosa
Petrochemical Corp  6505.TW , one of Asia's largest refined
products exporters, plans to cut run rates at its crude
distillation units by 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 440,000
bpd in June, the company's spokesperson said on Wednesday.
    "Due to weak margins, not only for gasoline but also for
gasoil, we have to cut runs," said spokesperson K.Y. Lin. 
    Formosa had originally planned to process 480,000 bpd of
crude this month, he said. Last month 440,000 bpd of crude oil
was processed, compared with the original plan of 470,000 bpd,
he added.
    The refiner has kept one of its three naphtha crackers
offline and the other two are operating between 70% and 75% of
capacity. The company is also substituting 10%-15% naphtha with
cheaper alternative feedstock liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) this
month.
    "Downstream demand for petrochemical is still poor," Lin
said.
    Profit margins for complex refineries in Singapore, the
bellwether for Asian refiners, have been trading below $4 this
week after plunging to a one-year low of 90 cents on May 30.
 DUB-SIN-REF 
    

 (Reporting by Mohi Narayan
Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and David Goodman
)
 ((Mohi.Narayan@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/_mohi_;))