LNG

CPC Corp, Taiwan’s state-run LNG buyer, has redirected spot and short-term tenders to US producers like Cheniere or Venture Global to offset suspended Qatari supplies. Customs data show monthly imports reached 2.07 million tonnes in April, up 4.34% year-on-year, with the upward trend continuing.

Burckhardt Compression has secured multiple contracts to supply compressor systems for LNG terminal projects in Thailand and Taiwan. The order covers eight Laby compressors for boil-off gas handling and one unit for minimum send-out service.

Bangladesh’s Petrobangla and several Indian buyers are tendering for spot LNG, puling more than 11 cargoes away from Europe towards Asia by early April. Further diversions are likely since Indian companies awarded only 4 out of 15 spot LNG tenders for April and May so far, according to Platts data.

Taiwan’s state-run CPC Corporation plans to increase US LNG imports to 30-33% of its total supply in 2026, more than triple the 10% recorded last year. The move is part of a bilateral trade agreement, requiring Taipei to reduce the island nation’s $111 billion trade surplus with the United States.

Start-up of the first repowered block of Taipower’s Hsinta plant is accelerating Taiwan’s switch from coal to LNG-fuelled power generation. The Government is actively promoting new nuclear and LNG in an effort to decarbonise.

CPC Corp, Taiwan’s state energy company, is seeking to import LNG cargoes for August and September after the country’s last nuclear power plant was shut down over the weekend. LNG procurement will be ramped up through a new regas terminal in the Guantang Industrial Area.

CPC Corp, Taiwan’s state-owned energy company, is preparing to ramp up LNG procurement through a new regas terminal in the Guantang Industrial Area. By importing more natural gas, utilities comply with the government’s policy to exit nuclear power by the end of this year.

The Guantang terminal, situated in the north of the island, will give CPC an additional option for importing LNG apart from its Taichung LNG terminal which is also being expanded.

The Taiwanese government wants to replace nuclear power with natural gas and renewables. To that end, the ratio of electricity generated from natural gas is meant to rise to 50%, the ministry of economic affairs said, specifying the mid-2025 as the deadline for the completion of the country’s nuclear exit.

Taipower seeks to adhere to the government’s Nuclear Free Homeland Policy and state-owned CPC Corp consequentially increased LNG imports since early summer last year, and recently got approval to build a new regas terminal at Kaohsiung. Unit 1 of Taipower’s last fully functional nuclear power plant was shuttered on July 27 2024, and the utility currently prepares to decommission Unit 2 in late August or September 2025. This will complete Taiwan’s nuclear exit.

Repowering Talin plant to replace lost nuclear capacity

By that time, however, the country will need to import substantially more LNG as gas-fuelled power station will need to be dispatched for mid-merit or even partly as a baseload power source. Repowering the Talin coal-fired power units to cleaner-burning natural gas is under consideration. Not only would this boost demand for LNG, combusting gas instead of thermal coal would also produce around 95,000 tonnes less sulphur oxide, 50,000 tonnes less nitrogen oxide, and 6.26 million tonnes less carbon dioxide annually.

CPC confirmed it will supply regasified LNG to the repowered Talin power plant at Kaohsiung Port. But the company was quick to add it would also supply gas to power industries, homes, other end-users, and source gas for storage to meet seasonal demand swings.

Plans to increase Taiwan's natural gas reserves from the current 7-day storage level to 14, have already been announced by the country’s Ministry of Economics in October last year. Greater gas storage requirements further add to rising demand for imported LNG. All these factors make the state gas buyer CPC Corp keep a vigilant eye on offerings from long-term LNG deliveries as well as on the spot market.

Taiwan's state-owned energy company CPC Corp is considering investing into the Alaska LNG export project, having signed an initial offtake agreement with AGDC to buy LNG from the venture. The deal was signed on a tour of Alaska’s Governor Mike Dunleavy across Asia, seeking additional investors for the $44 billion Alaska LNG project.

Cost overruns and limited firm offtake had for long delayed the Alaska LNG venture – but now the project became a priority of the US Trump administration. Gov. Dunleavy and senior officials from Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC), a state entity developing the liquefaction project, are currently touring Asia with the aim of securing firm offtake agreements and private investment.

Apart from Taiwan, utility buyers in Japan and South Korea have also been approached to step up their LNG imports as the United States seeks to balance its trade deficit with these countries.

The letter of intent (LoI), signed by CPC Corp, is not binding but could sway further Asian LNG buyers to sign on for firm offtake of Alaska LNG. As part of the LoI deal, CPC wants to invest in the export project though the exact amount is still subject to discussions.

Firm offtake its vital for project developers to reach financial close on the $44 billion Alaska LNG project, one of the most expensive liquefaction projects in the world. The venture has been government funded after ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and BP backed out in 2016 citing cost concerns and headwinds from environmentalists.

Phase 1 of Alaska LNG focuses on construction of the pipeline to deliver North Slope gas to interior and southcentral Alaska and resolve energy shortages on Cook Inlet. Infrastructure to liquefy the gas and export it will be developed in Alaska LNG Phase 2.

Feedgas for Alaska LNG is meant to be sourced from Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields. These fields will produce some 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day. The proposed liquefaction terminal in Nikiski, southwest of Anchorage is designed to process, store and transport up to 20 million tons per year (mtpa) of LNG.

Realisation of the gas pipeline, for starters, has gained traction after Glenfarne in January teamed up with AGDC agreeing to jointly Alaska Export Facility, Pipeline, and a Carbon Capture facility. Moreover, Glenfarne and ENSTAR Natural Gas Company also have agreed to advance an LNG import project utilizing the Alaska LNG export site.

Should the massive Alaska LNG venture go ahead, it would be Taiwan’s geographically closest source of US LNG given that cargoes from Alaska do not need to transit the Panama Canal to reach Asia.

Taiwan is one of the few markets in Asia where LNG demand is rising with a steady and substantial pace. Over 4.4 GW of new gas-fuelled power generation capacity is scheduled to start operations, underpinning LNG imports, while Taiwan’s law-making court is reviewing if the runtime of the final 951 MW unit at Maanshan nuclear power station can be extended.

Taiwan is expected to be seeking more LNG cargoes through 2023 as one of its nuclear power plants was retired this week, though the government said two new coal-fired power plants would help offset most of the power losses.