Lunar New Year lowered energy needs in February

The nation's energy use fell for the first time in three months in February as the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday reduced demand from manufacturers.

Energy consumption dropped 0.36 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 50.4 million barrels of oil in February, the Bureau of Energy said in a statement yesterday. Demand dropped 0.2 percent in November.

Taiwan's industrial production fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier in February, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on March 23. The Lunar New Year fell in February this year, cutting output at manufacturers such as Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the world's largest processor of plastics for pipes and imitation leather. The holiday was in January last year.

"The decline was because consumption by industrial companies were relatively low," said Kevin Lin, a planning official at the energy bureau. "It was all due to the holidays."

Nan Ya Plastics, based in Taipei, reported a 0.8 percent decline in February sales, it said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on March 5.

The nation used 15.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in February, 1.7 percent less than a year earlier, after a 12 percent increase in January. Industrial and energy companies accounted for 59 percent of consumption in February.

During the first two months of the year, energy consumption reached the equivalent of 108.8 million barrels of oil, an increase of 4.2 percent from a year earlier.

Taiwan bought 98 percent of its energy needs from overseas in February.

Crude oil imports totaled 29 million barrels, an increase of 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) and state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), the nation's only oil refiners, processed 30.5 million barrels of crude oil in February, or 8.7 percent more than a year earlier, the energy bureau said.

Coal imports increased 5.8 percent to 4.6 million tonnes in February. The nation's purchases of liquefied natural gas surged 22 percent to 585.3 million cubic meters, the bureau said.

In the first two months of the year, imports of crude oil climbed 12 percent to 58.7 million barrels, and liquefied natural gas purchases soared 34 percent to 1.27 billion cubic meters. Coal imports gained 11 percent to 9.6 million tonnes.

Liquefied natural gas, which accounts for more than 90 percent of Taiwan's natural gas needs, is gas that has been cooled for transport by ship and is later returned to gas form for use.