Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC,
The Legislative Yuan is likely next month to lay down rules for the sale, said Liao Tsang-long (廖昌龍), a spokesman for state-owned company. That will be followed by about seven months of preparation, president Pan Wenent (潘文炎) said.
Chinese Petroleum has assets of NT$470 billion (US$13.6 billion) and shareholders' capital of NT$130 billion.
"How much we raise depends on how much the market can absorb," Pan said. No financial advisers have been appointed yet, he said.
Chinese Petroleum is facing falling profit after Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) started a rival refinery last year. That ended Chinese Petroleum's monopoly on oil refining and distribution of fuels such as gasoline, and forced the company into growing exports to dispose of surplus fuel.
Chinese Petroleum exports about 130,000 tonnes of diesel a month to countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Taiwan had planned to sell shares in the company since 1999, Liao said. That was delayed while the government formulated rules relating to the liberalization of the oil industry that would allow the share sale to proceed.
Chinese Petroleum's profit may fall this year as Formosa gains market share, preventing oil product prices from being increased, Liao said in an interview.
The company's net income fell 39 percent to NT$8.34 billion last year, as fuel demand dropped in the aftermath of the 921 earthquake that caused at least NT$82 billion in losses for manufacturers. Profit was also crimped as the average cost of crude oil rose more than 50 percent from 1999 levels.
Chinese Petroleum's revenue rose 24 percent to NT$479.7 billion last year.
The company hopes to sell more than 50 percent of its stock in one go if the market can absorb it, otherwise the shares will be sold in stages, Pan said.
"Much of how the market receives CPC's share sale is contingent upon whether oil prices recover from current levels," said Rachel Tsang, senior analyst at DBS Vickers Hong Kong Ltd.
Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange has fallen 46 percent in 12 months.
Crude oil for January delivery Wednesday fell US$0.19, or 1
percent, to US$18.96 a barrel.
Separately, Chinese Petroleum expects Taiwan's government to approve next month its plan to jointly look for oil between Taiwan and China with China National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC,
Joint exploration of the Tainan Basin of the Taiwan Strait would signal closer cooperation between oil companies in Taiwan and China.
Taiwan last year used 815,000 barrels a day of oil, according to BP Plc's Annual Statistical Review of World Energy.
As it produces just 1,000 barrels a day, Taiwan relies on imports from the Middle East and West Africa for most of its crude oil needs.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)