Formosa Petrochemical Corp.'s chairman and president have stepped down after its Mailiao refinery in western Taiwan was hit by a second fire in a week over the weekend, which was also the seventh to hit the refinery in a year.
In a statement published on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday, the company said that chairman Wilfred Wang and president Su Chi-yi have resigned.
The resignation came after a fire that struck Formosa Petrochemical's 540,000 b/d refinery at 12:53 am Sunday, and which was extinguished two hours later. It caused no casualties.
The fire occurred at the propylene production unit attached to the No. 3 reside fluid catalytic cracker and subsequently the No. 3 CDU has been ordered by the government to be shut down for inspection.
The company has also been ordered to replace old pipelines, after a gas leak was identified as a probable cause to the fire that took place a week ago.
The rest of the complex will have shut in stages over one year for comprehensive inspections, the government said in a statement.
Formosa will also have to suspend exports if and when it is necessary to ensure adequate supplies to the domestic markets.
Formosa announced on Thursday that it will invest T$12 billion ($416 million) to replace aging pipelines at the refinery, a project that is expected to take about three years to complete.
"We did not solve the problem. I should be responsible for this," Su was quoted by local media.
Formosa representatives could not be reached for comment.
