Taiwan’s energy use rises; manufacturer demand grows

Energy consumption climbed 10.1 percent to the equivalent of 8.83 million kiloliters of oil, or about 1.92 million barrels a day, the Bureau of Energy in Taipei said on its Web site today. Demand last dropped in June, when it fell 2.3 percent.

Industrial output increased 15 percent from a year earlier in February, the fastest in four months, as companies boosted production to meet overseas orders, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said last month. The information and electronics industry led with a 29 percent gain.

“The electronics sector accounted for almost 20 percent of electricity sales,” Clint Chou, a spokesman for Taiwan Power Co., the island’s only electricity retailer, said by phone from Taipei yesterday. “The industry’s rising consumption is a big driver in overall demand.”

The island’s power consumption climbed 6.8 percent to 16.2 billion kilowatt-hours in February, compared with a 2.4 percent gain in the previous month.

AU Optronics, based in Hsinchu, Taiwan, boosted February sales 87 percent, the company said in a stock exchange filing in March. Its products are used in televisions, computers and mobile phones, among other electronic products.

Energy use in the first two months of the year rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 18.7 million kiloliters of oil, the energy bureau said.

Taiwan bought 98 percent of its energy needs from overseas in February. Crude oil imports climbed 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 4.33 million kiloliters and those of petroleum products soared 15 percent to the equivalent of 1.07 million kiloliters of oil, the bureau said.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. and CPC Corp., Taiwan’s only oil refiners, reduced crude oil processing by 6.2 percent to 4.55 million kiloliters in February, the energy bureau said.

The refiners used 78 percent of their crude distillation capacity in February, compared with 83 percent in January.

Coal imports fell 0.5 percent to 4.6 million metric tons, according to the bureau. The island’s purchases of liquefied natural gas climbed 4.7 percent to 612.8 million cubic meters. LNG accounted for 95 percent of gas supply.

In the first two months, imports of crude oil fell 6.2 percent to 8.75 million kiloliters and LNG purchases increased 8.8 percent to 1.38 billion cubic meters. Coal imports climbed 2.3 percent to 9.85 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.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email