Taiwan’s energy consumption grows at slowest pace in 10 months

The retail price of state-run refiner CPC Corp.’s benchmark gasoline grade surged 21 percent from a year earlier, encouraging some motorists to shift to public transportation. The number of trips on mass rapid transit systems gained 13 percent in the first half of the year, the state statistics bureau said on July 30.

“Increased prices depress consumption, driving down demand for gasoline and diesel,” Alan Wang, a planning official at the energy bureau, said yesterday.

Consumption of petroleum products, which account for about half of the island’s energy supply, fell 4.1 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 4.5 million kiloliters of oil, the bureau said. Demand for diesel declined 21 percent, while that for gasoline dropped 8.7 percent. Power consumption climbed 8.2 percent to 20.9 billion kilowatt-hours in June, with demand by industrial and energy companies 12 percent higher than a year earlier. Taiwan produces electricity from fossil fuels, wind, nuclear and hydro power.

Energy use in the first six months of the year rose 6.7 percent to the equivalent of 61.6 million kiloliters of oil, the energy bureau said.

Taiwan bought 99 percent of its energy needs from overseas in June. Crude oil imports fell 11 percent from a year earlier to 5 million kiloliters, while those of petroleum products decreased 7.7 percent to the equivalent of 1.57 million kiloliters of oil, the bureau said.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. and CPC, Taiwan’s only oil refiners, used 76 percent of their crude distillation capacity in June, down from 79 percent in May, the bureau said. Crude oil processing fell 7.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.59 million kiloliters in June.

Coal imports dropped 14 percent to 5.23 million metric tons, according to the bureau. The island’s purchases of liquefied natural gas increased 13 percent to 1.06 billion cubic meters. LNG accounted for 97 percent of gas supply.

In the first six months, imports of crude oil declined 6.4 percent to 26.9 million kiloliters and LNG purchases increased 14 percent to 5.58 billion cubic meters. Coal imports fell 0.8 percent to 31.3 million tons.

LNG is natural gas that is 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. It is turned back into gas for distribution to power plants, factories and households.

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