OREANDA-NEWS. Formosa Petrochemical's 600,000 t/yr Group II base oil unit has halted operations because of a mechanical glitch. The plant is scheduled to resume operations at end April.

The unit was shut down today following a problem affecting the vacuum distillation unit at Formosa's 540,000 b/d refinery in Mailiao. The shutdown will halt all base oil production for two weeks. Planned shipments are expected to face a similar delay of at least two weeks.

The shutdown of the Group II unit coincides with an unusually heavy round of plant maintenance in Asia-Pacific in the first half of this year. Taiwan had been one of the few sources supplying a steady volume of base oils throughout this period. Chinese base oil imports from Taiwan have averaged more than 40,000 t/month since the fourth quarter of last year.