《TAIPEI TIMES》Talks on Taiwan-Alaska LNG deal advance

健康 國際 地方 蒐奇 影音 財經 娛樂 汽車 時尚 體育 3 C 評論 藝文 玩咖 食譜 地產 專區 TAIPEI TIMES 求職

An undated photograph shows an LNG tanker docked at CPC Corp, Taiwan’s LNG terminal in Kaohsiung’s Yungan Township. Photo courtesy of CPC Corp, Taiwan

PIPELINE PROJECT: Although there has been no word on a binding purchase agreement being signed, deliveries to Taiwan might begin in 2032, officials said

Staff writer, with agencies

Progress is being made in talks to buy liquefied natural gas （LNG） from an Alaskan project, with Taiwan considering an investment of up to US$4.4 billion, the government said yesterday after US President Donald Trump on Tuesday told a rally in the US state that Taiwan would buy 30 percent of the proposed facility’s output.

CPC Corp, Taiwan （台灣中油） would purchase 6 million tonnes of Alaska LNG per year once production begins, in line with a letter of intent signed in March last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.

CPC would also participate in development of the project — involving a 1,299km pipeline — with the investment, the ministry added.

Alaska LNG is expected to produce 20 million tonnes annually, although experts have said the plan might not be viable.

If operations start on schedule, it could begin supplying LNG to Taiwan as early as 2032, the ministry said in a statement.

“Specific investment arrangements, equity stakes and related terms will be determined through subsequent negotiations and commercial contract procedures,” it said.

The ministry did not say whether a binding sale-and-purchase agreement had been signed.

The partnership with the project’s US developer is expected to diversify Taiwan’s LNG supplies, give the nation more flexibility in managing supply and distribution, improve energy security and deepen ties with the US, it said.

Alaska’s location means the LNG would be shipped directly to Taiwan across the Pacific Ocean, offering an alternative route that could help mitigate geopolitical risks and diversify supplies, it added.

The partnership is based on mutual benefit and shared prosperity, and CPC is continuing to work out details of the purchase and investment, the ministry said.

Earlier yesterday, Premier Cho Jung-tai （卓榮泰） told reporters that the government had been working since the start of the year to ensure stable supplies of oil, electricity and natural gas.

Cho called on the public to show greater support for state-owned utilities.

In February, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen （方振仁） said that the company planned to increase its US LNG purchases to about one-third of its total imports.

Last year, Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an （潘孟安） visited the site of the proposed Alaska LNG project.

So far, Alaska LNG has lined up agreements covering 13 million tonnes a year from buyers in Asia, as well as French multinational TotalEnergies.

It needs agreements for another 3 million tonnes and must turn them into binding deals to line up financing for the project.

The project would open direct access for US-made LNG to Asian markets, including Taiwan, without having to go through the Panama Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope, reducing transit time and costs.

The project’s developers aim to take a final investment decision on the pipeline by the end of this year, followed by the export facility next year, with first LNG exports targeted for 2031.

Trump last month said that South Korea had agreed to invest in the US$54 billion project, but Seoul said a deal was not yet set in stone.

At the rally in Alaska on Tuesday, Trump hailed Taiwan’s planned purchase from the proposed mega-gas project, which would draw from Alaska’s North Slope to an export terminal in the state’s south.

“Taiwan has just agreed to buy 30 percent of the gas coming off the pipeline for the next 20 years,” Trump said. “That guarantees success. It’s one of the biggest commitments in history for anything. It’s one of the biggest deals ever made.”

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