Print

Mail

wiki links

Liquefied natural gas import growth declines to 4%

Taiwan, Asia's fourth-largest importer of liquefied natural gas, bought 4 percent more of the fuel in February from a year earlier, slower than the 12 percent gain in January as supplies from Indonesia dropped.

CPC Corp (中油) imported 1.02 million kiloliters, or 462,000 tonnes, of the fuel, costing US$313 million in February, compared with 978,000 kiloliters costing US$204 million a year earlier, the government's Energy Bureau said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

State-owned CPC is Taiwan's only LNG importer.

The nation imports more than 95 percent of its natural gas needs. LNG prices climbed last year after the closure of the world's biggest nuclear power plant in Japan resulted in a surge in demand for the fuel by Tokyo Electric Power Co, which owns the atomic station. Electricity generators account for about 75 percent of Taiwan's LNG consumption.

CPC paid US$673.84 a tonne in February, near the record US$679.20 a tonne in January, the energy bureau said.

Purchases from Indonesia fell 20 percent from January to 539,200 kiloliters in February.

Meanwhile Malaysian supplies declined 6.9 percent to 339,400 kiloliters from the previous month, government data showed.

CPC bought 146,000 kiloliters from Nigeria in February.
This story has been viewed 897 times.