State-run Chinese Petroleum Corp's (CPC,
"Oil exploration is a commercial activity and will not be affected by this political incident," Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎), president of the nation's largest oil refiner, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
CPC will be able to handle the situation as it has abundant experience doing oil exploration in countries with which Taiwan has no diplomatic relations, Chen said.
The outlook for the Chad investment appears positive, as an adjacent oil field explored by a Canadian rival has reserves equivalent to up to 200 million barrels of crude oil and liqid natural gas, according to the executive.
Taiwan announced it had cut diplomatic ties with Chad late on Saturday night, after the African nation recognized China.
The nation's diplomatic setback sparked concerns over the possible impact on CPC's investments in Chad.
The company signed a US$17 million four-year contract for the exclusive rights to explore three oil fields covering 26,000km2, or two-thirds the area of Taiwan, in the country in January.
The entire project in Chad could cost up to US$30 million. CPC has earmarked US$4.95 million for the project this year, the oil refiner said in a statement posted on the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Web site yesterday.
CPC has engaged in foreign oil exploration in recent years. The company said in May that it planned to pour NT$8.3 billion (US$252.5 million) into overseas oil exploration over the next five years to boost supplies in the face of soaring crude prices.
The refiner is also exploring fields in Ecuador, Indonesia, Venezuela and the US, Chen said.
Oil fields in Australia will start mass production within the next two years, he added.
The company estimates that the results of its overseas oil exploration efforts could contribute around NT$30 billion in profits in the future.
Skyrocketing crude oil prices have dragged CPC into the red. The company reported a deficit of NT$22.4 billion for the first seven months of this year.
Chen, however, remained tightlipped about any possible markups in gasoline prices to address the losses.
Gas prices have been raised three times this year.
CPC has proposed adopting a floating pricing mechanism to reflect fluctuating crude oil costs but has not received a positive response from the ministry.
The company may continue to promote the system to incoming minister of economic affairs Steve Chen (
When Lika Megreladze was a child, life in her native western Georgian region of Guria revolved around tea. Her mother worked for decades as a scientist at the Soviet Union’s Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in the village of Anaseuli, Georgia, perfecting cultivation methods for a Georgian tea industry that supplied the bulk of the vast communist state’s brews. “When I was a child, this was only my mum’s workplace. Only later I realized that it was something big,” she said. Now, the institute lies abandoned. Yellowed papers are strewn around its decaying corridors, and a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
HELPING HAND: Approving the sale of H20s could give China the edge it needs to capture market share and become the global standard, a US representative said The US President Donald Trump administration’s decision allowing Nvidia Corp to resume shipments of its H20 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China risks bolstering Beijing’s military capabilities and expanding its capacity to compete with the US, the head of the US House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said. “The H20, which is a cost-effective and powerful AI inference chip, far surpasses China’s indigenous capability and would therefore provide a substantial increase to China’s AI development,” committee chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said on Friday in a letter to US Secretary of