Malaysia: Fire breaks out at Lotte Chemical Titan plant in Johor

OOI TEE CHING New Straits Times 20 Sep 17;

KUALA LUMPUR: A fire broke out at one of Lotte Chemical Titan Holding's plants in Johor, a senior company executive and the local fire department, Nikkei Markets reports today.

The fire, which has since been extinguished, caused “minor” damage to the company's plant in Pasir Gudang, the executive said, declining to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A spokesperson with the local Fire Department told Nikkei Markets no injury was reported onsite and authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.

At the close of Bursa Malaysia today, Lotte Chemical Titan lost 20 sen to RM5.29.

Last month, the group's share price dived as low as RM4.65 after it reported second quarter earnings ended June 2017 had plunged 72 per cent to RM113.62 million from RM404.03 million.

Lotte Chemical Titan said profits fell after it was forced to shut down for several days in April, due to a water disruption. The shutdown resulted in a 75 kilotonne decline in production volume.

Lotte Chemical Titan's share price has since recovered above the RM5.00 mark, partly on expected higher selling prices for its products.

An increase in ethylene prices due to recent refinery shutdowns in the US following Hurricane Harvey is expected to spill over to product prices.

Two months ago, Lotte Chemical Titan raised about RM4 billion from its initial public offering, debuting at RM6.50 a share.

Lotte Chemical Titan, the Malaysian unit of petrochemical giant Lotte Chemical Corp, counts Permodalan Nasional Bhd as one of its major shareholders.

Its listing was the biggest Malaysian public offering since 2012.


Fire at Pasir Gudang chemical plant brought under control
mohd farhaan shah The Star 20 Sep 17;

PASIR GUDANG: Thick smoke coming from a chemical factory here caused thousands working and living around the industrial area here to panic.

However, Pasir Gudang Fire and Rescue station chief Ibrahim Omar said the fire was believed to have started from the factory's quench water treatment tanker.

He added that the fire was prevented from spreading to other parts of the factory due to quick action by the department.

"The fire only damaged about five percent of the whole factory area and we managed to control it within 43 minutes," he said.

Ibrahim pointed out that the department received a distress call at around 2.35pm and immediately deployed three fire engines with 15 firemen to the scene.

"There were no injuries or loss of life during the incident as we able to put it out before the fire cause any serious damage," he said.

Ibrahim also said that the department was investigating the cause of fire and the total damage.


Fire Breaks Out At Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Plant In Malaysia
Alexander Winifred and Gho Chee Yuan Nikkei Review 18 Sep 17

KUALA LUMPUR (Sep 18) -- A fire broke out at one of Lotte Chemical Titan Holding's plants in Malaysia's southern state of Johor on Wednesday afternoon, a senior company executive and the local fire department said.

The fire, which has since been extinguished, caused 'minor' damage to the company's plant in Pasir Gudang, the executive said, declining to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

A spokesperson with the local Fire Department said no injury was reported onsite and authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.


Minimal losses in Lotte Chemical fire incident
p. aruna The Star 26 Sep 17;

KUALA LUMPUR: Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd said the damage caused to its new TE3 Project due to the recent fire incident was minimal and estimated losses of not more than RM50,000 to replace burnt cables.

In an announcement to the stock exchange, the company said it had completed its assesment of the fire incident that occured at its PP3 expansion plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor on Sept 20.

Last week, Lotte Chemical shares were hit following news of the incident, with the share price going as low as RM5.04 a share.

The share price improved to close at RM5.25 on Monday.

“The fire was due to contact between residual vapor from the Quench Water drain pit and the steam line.

“There is no damage to the other plants and they are running normally,” the company said in the filing.

It said it had resumed the preparation of the TE3 Project for commissioning and the commercial startup is on target by the fourth quarter 2017.

The company said the incident was not expected to have a material effect on the earnings, net assets and gearing of the company and the group for the financial year ending December 31, 2017.

Maybank Investment Bank Research maintained its Buy call on the counter, as well as its earnings forecasts and target price of RM7.85 following the update from the company.

It said the market would be comforted by the revelation of the announcement and look beyond the incident.

“The focus will resume to the recent surge in crude oil prices and the likelihood for petrochemical prices to track crude oil prices.

“We believe the share price will react positively as the company is a direct beneficiary of higher petrochemical prices,” it said.