Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp 6505.TW plans to trim operating rates at its Mailiao refinery to 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June and July because of weaker refining margins and a planned maintenance at a secondary unit, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The refinery is operating at 480,000 bpd this month.

Formosa plans to reduce operating rates at its 36,000-bpd delayed coker unit to around 68% for June and July, down from 90% in May, because of repairs that will likely last until the end of July, said FPCC spokesperson KY Lin.

Weaker refining margins in the past month remain the key reason for this run cut, he said.

Asia’s complex refining margins DUB-SIN-REF have been hovering between 80 cents per barrel and $5.80 per barrel since early April, down from between $5.86 a barrel and $9.27 a barrel in March, Refinitiv data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Trixie Yap, Editing by Louise Heavens)