Taiwan’s top energy firm eyes continued growth as it turns 70

2016/06/03

CPC Corp., Taiwan’s foremost energy company and largest state-owned enterprise by revenue, held a celebration in honor of its 70th anniversary June 1 at its headquarters in Taipei City during which the firm highlighted its corporate social responsibility programs and efforts to bolster the nation’s energy security.

“The company will expand its oil exploration programs around the world to increase ownership of oil sources so Taiwan will be better prepared for the impacts of price fluctuations,” said Paul Chen, president of CPC. He added it intends to raise the percentage of crude oil from CPC-owned sources at its refineries from 4 to 10 percent within the next several years.

According to its president, the state-owned enterprise is also working to diversify Taiwan’s energy sources by facilitating greater access to liquefied natural gas, which produces less carbon emissions than traditional fossil fuels. “The company is building facilities that will enable it to import larger quantities of LNG, which is in line with the government’s policy of reducing the use of nuclear power in Taiwan,” he said.

CPC currently operates two LNG receiving terminals, one in the southern city of Kaohsiung and another in the central city of Taichung, while a third such facility, slated to open in 2022, is under construction in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City. The proportion of electricity generated in Taiwan using LNG reached 31.4 percent in 2015, up from 4.3 in 1995.

Addressing the firm’s environmental protection initiatives, Chen drew attention to CPC’s Soil and Groundwater Remediation Division, established in May 2015. The unit is currently focusing on clean-up efforts at an oil refinery in Kaohsiung decommissioned last year.

Founded in Shanghai in 1946, CPC relocated to Taipei City in 1949. The company, overseen by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, imports and refines crude oil in addition to distributing refined petroleum products. As of the end of 2015, it operated 1,978 gas stations across Taiwan, or nearly 80 percent of the total.

CPC has played a major role in the nation’s economic development. In 1968, it constructed Taiwan’s first naphtha cracking plant in Kaohsiung, fostering the growth of the petrochemical industry, one of the largest in the country.

To further bolster this sector, the MOEA launched the High-value Petrochemical Industry Promotion Office in early 2012. The office uses financial incentives to encourage private sector investment in R&D as well as the development of eco-friendly and high-end products with the aim of reducing the industry’s environmental impact and advancing its international competitiveness.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=245308&ctNode=2194&mp=9)