Taiwan CPC may cut refinery output if drought lasts
Date: 14-May-02
Country: TAIWAN
Chinese Petroleum would consider reducing output in the 200,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery if water supply was cut by more than 25 percent, a company spokesman said.
Hit by the worsening drought, Taiwan began rationing water in early May, cutting supplies to car-wash operators, swimming pools, saunas and other non-essential services because rainfall has been far less than average this year.
However, the government has not yet limited water supply to the industrial sector, which the government has said would be a priority to receive water over residential and other users.
The spokesman said Chinese Petroleum's other two refineries and naphtha crackers in southern Kaohsiung county were operating normally.
Officials at private refiner Formosa Petrochemical Corp, whose 450,000 bpd refinery located in Mailiao in south-central Taiwan, were not immediately available for comment.
