Taiwan Studying Two Industrial-Petrochem Complexes Worth $48 Billion

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston Texas). Major industrial and petrochemical projects are under study in Taiwan. These developments follow the international trend of forming zones and hubs where manufacture/production are sited near complementary facilities and domestic and international transport and freight corridors.

Formosa Plastics Group (TAIWAN:1301) (Taipei) is studying a $36.8 billion investment plan to build a massive seaport and industrial park complex in northern Taiwan, it was reported in mid-February. The chairman of the company, Wang Yung-ching said that the plan was at the concept stage and at this stage implementation of the plan could not be confirmed.

Formosa Plastics had originally proposed investing $1.7 billion on the development of an international port at the site. The new, more grandiose plan, is to build a steel mill with an annual capacity of ten million tons, a 4,800 MW coal-fired power plant and manufacturing, high-tech and petrochemical industry zones reported the local Commercial Times.

Reports said that Formosa Plastics has presented the plan to Taoyuan County government officials, who were seeking investment and venture offers to develop the site on the northwest tip of the island.

In western Yunlin county, the state's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) (Taipei) is aiming to complete evaluations, no later than July of this year, on a proposed $10.91 billion refining and petrochemical complex with an attached industrial park. This month (Feb) the company began conducting a series of preliminary studies on the complex. The study process will involve mapping out various production models, analyzing marketing, operational, economic, and overall development feasibility and examining the environmental impact of the project. Reports say that CPC is likely to hire a neutral party to conduct the environmental impact evaluation while conducting the other parts of the study using internal resources.

The Yunlin project plan came out of CPC's predicted failure in securing community support for its proposed development of a 1.2 million tons/year No 8 naphtha cracker, a 150,000 bpd refinery and petrochemicals facilities in southern Pinglung province.

The 4,200-acre site is in the Hsinhsing region and Taihsi industrial zone on an outlying island off Yunlin. Preliminary project ideas for the development include building more than 50 refining and petrochemical facilities, including a 1.2 million tons per annum naphtha cracker and refinery to produce feedstock for the cracker. In addition to reclaiming land on the Taihsi Island and laying infrastructure, CPC also plans to build more than twelve oil and petrochemical berths, storage facilities, and downstream industrial plants.