Energy demand growth slows as oil refiners shut down plants

Energy consumption climbed 4.6 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 9.43 million kiloliters of oil, or about 1.91 million barrels a day, the Bureau of Energy in Taipei said on its Web site. The increase was the smallest since the 3.5 percent gain in November.

CPC has closed two units in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung because of an explosion in January, while its smaller rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp. shut three plants in March for scheduled maintenance. The refiners’ stoppage spurred some customers to reduce production, the economic ministry said on April 23.

“Our oil use of course dropped when the two plants closed,” Jessica Tang, a CPC spokeswoman, said by phone from Taipei yesterday.

Formosa Petrochemical and CPC, Taiwan’s only oil refiners, used 72 percent of their crude distillation capacity in March, below the 78 percent in February, the bureau said. Crude oil processing fell 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 4.17 million kiloliters in March.

The island’s power consumption climbed 3 percent to 17.9 billion kilowatt-hours in March, compared with the 6.8 percent increase in the previous month.

Energy use in the first three months of the year rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 28.1 million kiloliters of oil, the energy bureau said.

Taiwan bought 98 percent of its energy needs from overseas in March. Crude oil imports surged 19 percent from a year earlier to 5.01 million kiloliters and those of petroleum products jumped 42 percent to the equivalent of 2.08 million kiloliters of oil, the bureau said.

Coal imports fell 11 percent to 4.47 million metric tons, according to the bureau. The island’s purchases of liquefied natural gas increased 33 percent to 1.05 billion cubic meters. LNG accounted for 97 percent of the gas supply.

In the first three months, imports of crude oil climbed 1.7 percent to 13.8 million kiloliters and LNG purchases increased 18 percent to 2.43 billion cubic meters. Coal imports declined 2.4 percent to 14.3 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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