Taiwan LNG Imports Decline By 5.7 Percent BUSINESS ASIA By Bloomberg

By Dinakar Sethuraman and Sophie Tan

Taiwan, the third-biggest liquefied natural gas importer in Asia, trimmed purchases by 5.7 percent in October while costs rose, government data show.

CPC, the only LNG importer in Taiwan, cut purchases to 1.64 million kiloliters, or about 743,000 metric tons, last month from 1.74 million kiloliters a year earlier, the energy bureau said in an e-mail Wednesday. Taiwan paid 11 percent more for each unit of the fuel.

“Until Taiwan’s LNG-powered power plants come on-stream, the demand for LNG will be quite flat,” Wei Juen-shen, the section chief for energy statistics at the bureau of energy in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said. Wei declined to comment on the decline in LNG imports.

LNG meets more than 95 percent of natural gas needs in Taiwan.

Prices of the fuel have climbed in recent months after an accident in March at a Tokyo Electric Power nuclear plant increased demand for LNG to run gas-fired generators, according to a consultant, Facts.

The government forecasts LNG demand will rise 31 percent to 10.5 million tons in 2010, and double by the end of the next decade.

Taiwan paid an average price of $251 a kiloliter, or about $10.6 a million British thermal units, for the fuel in October, the data show.

Taiwan paid $12.7 a million British thermal units for supplies from Indonesia, which has multiyear contracts to supply the island, the data show. Indonesian LNG was the most expensive and accounted for about 33 percent of Taiwanese purchases in October.

By contrast, mainland China paid about $9.25 per million British thermal units for an individual cargo from Algeria in October, Chinese customs figures show.

LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume at minus 161 degrees Celsius (minus 259 Fahrenheit), for transportation by ship to destinations not connected by pipeline.

On arrival, it is turned back into gas for distribution to power plants, factories and households.

Originally published by Bloomberg News.

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