Regional LNG: Taiwan to triple LNG import by 2020

Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp. plans to almost triple

its LNG import capacity by 2020 to meet rising demand for the fuel, Bloomberg reported.

The state-run company will have the facilities to receive 21 million metric tons of LNG by the end of the next decade, C.S. Lin, Chinese Petroleum vice president, said Monday in an interview.

Taiwan aims to increase natural gas consumption to 16 million metric tons a year by 2020 to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, since the fuel produces less pollution than coal and oil.

LNG accounts for more than 90 percent of Taiwan's natural gas needs, because the island has limited gas reserves.

CPC plans to expand annual capacity of the Yung-an terminal, currently the only one in Taiwan, to 12 million tons, he said.

CPC will also expand a second terminal the company is building in Taichung harbor, which is due to start operations in 2008 and projected to reach an annual capacity of 3 million metric tons in 2010, Lin said. A third is planned off the coast at Taichung, he said.

CPC has currently three long-term LNG supply contracts for a total of 5.6 million metric tons a year. Two are with Indonesian state oil company, PT Pertamina, and one with Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd. Deliveries from Qatar are due to start in 2008, while one of its Indonesian purchase contracts is due to expire in 2009.(*)