Incident Report

Subject:                        Mitsubishi Kashima Plant Fire

Date of Email reporting Incident:   26/12/200

Report Detail:

21st December 2007

At the Kashima Plant of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Location: Kamisu-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture; General Manager, Fujio Sumi), a fire broke out in the cracking furnace area of the No.2 Ethylene Plant (production capacity: 476,000 pta) at 11:30 am (Japan Time) today.

The operation of the No.2 Ethylene Plant has been suspended, and the fire has been controlled, but not been completely extinguished. We have not been able to contact four operators from associated companies who were working in the area. As soon as we get further details, we will announce them.

22nd December 2007

At the Kashima Plant of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Location: Kamisu-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture; General Manager, Fujio Sumi), a fire broke out in the cracking furnace area of the No.2 Ethylene Plant (production capacity: 476,000 pta) at 11:34 am (Japan Time) on December 21, 2007. We announce the current status as follows. The fire claimed three lives and the fate of one employee from associated companies who were working in the area remains unclear, as of 12:30 am today. We sincerely apologize to those deceased employees, their bereaved families, and families of one employee whose fate has not been confirmed.
Once again, we sincerely apologize for causing so much trouble to people who had been affected including neighboring residents.

25th December 2007

As for the status of plant operation and product delivery in the Kashima Plant as of December 26, 2007, we announce as follows:

1 Operational status

I. Shutdown at present   
i No.2 ethylene
ii No.2 benzene     

Note: The causes and damages of the fire accident are being investigated under the direction of related government agencies. Therefore, the shutdown period of the above plants has not been clarified at present. 

1. Operation reduction
   1. Polyethylene
   2. Polypropylene
   3. Ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol
   4. Ethyl benzene and styrene monomer
   5. Cumene, phenol, acetone, and bisphenol-A 

Note: Plants excluding polyolefin were operated with 60% operating rate as emergency response caused by the fire until yesterday. At present, we are making every possible effort to deliver products to our customers by adjusting operations of derivative plants based on the balance between product inventories and raw materials.

2. Delivery
As for received purchase orders, products to be delivered by the end of this year have been all set as requested. However, as for products to be delivered in January or later, the volume can be reduced or the delivery can be suspended depending on products, although we are devising utmost countermeasures. Therefore, we have already started consulting with each customer to be affected.

26th December 2007

In the fire broke out at the No.2 Ethylene Plant of the Kashima Plant at around 11:32 am (Japan Time) on December 21, four employees from associate companies died.

We pray for the souls of the deceased employees in the fire accident, and extend our heartfelt sympathy to their bereaved families.