CPC postpones LNG terminal

The state-run oil refiner will postpone the startup of Taichung terminal to the first quarter of 2009 from September and will cover any LNG shortfall caused by the delay with Qatari cargoes arriving at Yongan port, Chung Long Lee, deputy chief executive of CPC’s natural gas business, said on the sidelines of the Gasex conference in Hanoi yesterday. The Taichung LNG terminal, designed to process 3 million metric tons of the fuel a year, was originally scheduled to start commercial operations in January. The project fell behind schedule as winds and waves slowed the construction of an undersea pipeline that is to transport gas from the terminal to the 4,384-megawatt Tatan power plant. “The offshore piping from Taichung to Tatan power station did not go smoothly,” Lee said. “The pipe broke three times and there were many typhoons in Taiwan this year. That made construction difficult.”

Taiwan, which buys 3.42 million tons of the fuel from Indonesia under two separate multiyear contracts, may not be able to get the agreement renewed, Lee said. The first contract for 1.58 million tons expires next year.

CPC will import about 690,000 tons of LNG this year and 1.3 million tons next year from Qatar under a new 3 million-tons-a-year term contract, Lee said. The fuel will eventually land in the new terminal.

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