The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said despite the scrapping of a naphtha cracker project, Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (國光石化科技) shouldn’t be dissolved because it serves as a platform to strategize the future development of Taiwan’s petrochemical industry.
Both the ministry and CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), hope that Kuokuang will move forward as it is a great cooperation platform integrating the private and public sectors, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) told the legislature.
The government on Friday withdrew its support for Kuokuang’s plans to build a naphtha cracker in Changhua County amid public concerns about possible environmental hazards and the failure of the project to pass numerous environmental impact assessments.
CPC is the largest stakeholder in Kuokuang with 43 percent, while private investors include Oriental Union Chemical Corp (東聯化學), Chang Chun Group (長春), China Manmade Fibers Corp (中纖), Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital (富邦金創) and Pan Asia Chemical Corp (磐亞).
Kuokuang has capital of NT$540 million (US$18.7 million).
Kuokuang chairman Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎), who was also at the legislature, said a board meeting to be convened tomorrow would “decide on the venture’s fate.”
Pending proposals to be passed by the board include the scrapping of the investment in Changhua and withdrawal of the plan from the Environmental Protection Administration, Chen said.
As for whether Kuokuang would set up a cracker plant abroad instead, this would depend on the board’s decision, he added.
Private shareholders of Kuokuang have evaluated investment feasibility in Malaysia, -Indonesia and China, Shih said.
Taiwan currently bans naphtha cracking investments in China and the ministry has been mulling lifting the ban. The private sector would be allowed to invest across the Taiwan Strait if the ban was lifted, but the ban would still apply for state-run firms such as CPC.
Such an overseas investment is huge in dollar terms and is similar to the previous ban on Taiwanese panel and chip investments in China. Allowing naphtha-cracking investments in China would have to be accompanied by a slew of restraints and conditions, the minister said last week.
The Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會), meanwhile, cast a no-confidence vote in the government.
“If Taiwan’s environment isn’t suited to petrochemical development, the government has to at least give a lifeline to the industry by allowing overseas investments,” the federation said in a statement. “The private sector should have a say as to where they want to invest. What the government needs to do now is to lay out a clear-cut policy for the future development.”
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
RSS