The legislature's Economics and Energy Committee passed a measure that will make importing petroleum products easier and may weaken CPC, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp's (台塑石化) dominance of the fuel market.
The minimum stockpile of a fuel importer has been lowered to 10,000 kiloliters (62,898 barrels) from 50,000, Yeh Huey-ching (葉惠青), director-general of Taipei-based Bureau of Energy, said in a telephone interview today. The change is pending approval of the whole legislature.
The move may lower costs and encourage international oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil Corp, to export petroleum products to Taiwan, breaking the dominance of Formosa Petrochemical and state-run CPC, the nation's two oil refiners.
"The entry barrier is being lowered," Yeh said. "It's aimed at increasing competition in the market."
State-run CPC controls about 75 percent of Taiwan's gasoline and diesel market, while Formosa Petrochemical, a unit of the island's biggest diversified industrial company, has the rest. The two companies are Taiwan's only oil refiners.
Esso Petroleum Taiwan Inc, a local venture of Exxon Mobil, obtained permits to import gasoline and diesel fuel to Taiwan in February 2002. It exited the market in September 2003, according to the energy bureau Web site.
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