An executive of the state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) yesterday refuted media reports that the company will this week sign a formal contract with its mainland counterpart, China Na-tional Offshore Oil Corp (中國海洋石油), to jointly explore oil and natural gas in the Taiwan Strait.
"[We] haven't confirmed when [both sides] will sign the contract for the joint exploration project," Chinese Petroleum President Pan Wen-yen (潘文炎) told reporters at the Legislative Yuan. "It is still in the preparation stage."
Earlier yesterday, several news media outlets reported that the contract for the joint venture between Chinese Petroleum and China National Offshore is scheduled to be signed on Thursday when China National Offshore President Wei Liu-cheng (衛留成) will arrive in Taipei.
The contract calls for the establishment of a joint venture, the Tainan-Chaoshan Petroleum Co (台南潮汕石油), which will register in the Virgin Islands with an initial capitalization of US$50,000. Chinese Petroleum and China National Offshore would each share 50 percent of the stake, and branch offices will be set up in Taipei and Shenzhen, respectively, within three months after the contract is forged, the reports said.
The project will include seismic testing and drilling in an area covering 15,400km2 in the Tainan basin between south Taiwan and China's Guangdong province, the reports said, citing an unnamed Chinese Petroleum official.
Under the contract, the new venture will prospect for oil in an area covering 15,400km2 near the median line of the Taiwan Strait and centered on a spot 21-23 degrees north latitude and 118 degrees east longitude.
Vice Chairman Lu Chi-cheng (呂桔誠) of the Commission of National Corporations last month said that the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council has green-lighted the cooperative venture.
But Pan said he has so far not heard anything from the Executive Yuan and he is not sure when and where both sides will sign the deal.
Initial geophysical studies under a two-year contract signed in July 1996 across the strait had indicated possible rich oil and natural gas reserves in the area.
But the cooperation was halted in late 1996 after Taiwan imposed new controls on investment and trade links with China as tensions rose over then Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui's (
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS