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Exports of LPG set to rise

Taiwan, Northeast Asia's biggest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exporter, may boost overseas shipments by as much as 29 percent in the next five years, targeting Vietnam as China cuts back on imports.

The nation's exports of LPG, burned in Asian households for cooking and heating, may increase to 400,000 tonnes from 310,000 tonnes last year, said Hou Ling-wan (侯玲婉), manager of trading at the LPG business unit of state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油).

"Vietnam is a promising market," Hou said in Singapore on June 28. "The country's LPG demand is growing rapidly because of its booming economy."

Demand in Vietnam, Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economy, may rise by as much as 10 percent next year, matching projected expansion led by manufacturing and service industries.

China's LPG imports fell a second year last year, while exports surged five times, partly because of the country's rising refining capacity.

CPC and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation's only refiners, are boosting exports as production rises and domestic demand stagnates.

MIDDLE EAST

Taiwan last year produced 1.3 million tonnes and imported an additional 1.1 million tonnes, mainly produced in the Middle East and transported on refrigerated 44,000-tonne vessels. Taiwan consumed 2 million tonnes, and the balance was exported to Vietnam, the Philippines and other nearby markets on smaller pressurized ships that load 1,500 tonnes to 2,000 tonnes at a time, Hou said.

The LPG that is exported to smaller markets is typically of a grade that fails to meet Taiwan's requirements.

Hou said the nation's LPG production may rise to 1.4 million tonnes this year from 1.3 million last year. CPC, with a daily crude processing capacity of 720,000 barrels, supplies about 63 percent of the local market, she said. The company currently supplies as much as 90 percent of its LPG exports to Hong Kong for use as auto fuel.

Formosa Petrochemical on May 25 started one of Asia's largest ethylene plants with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes a year. The facility turns naphtha into ethylene and by-products including LPG.

"Our LPG export availability is rising because our overall output has increased following the startup of the new ethylene plant," said Lin Keh-yen (林克彥), a director at Formosa Petrochemical, while declining to give production numbers.

DEMAND

Demand for LPG in Vietnam, where the economy grew 8.2 percent last year, is likely to exceed 1 million tonnes by 2009 compared with 800,000 tonnes last year, Bui Minh Tien, deputy general director of PetroVietnam Gas Co, Vietnam's only LPG producer, said last month.

The Southeast Asian nation last year bought 269,064 tonnes of LPG from Thailand, 72,547 tonnes from Singapore, 66,665 tonnes from Malaysia, 35,271 tonnes from China and 15,815 tonnes from Taiwan, Tien said, citing government statistics.
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