CPC Corporation

History

Early history

CPC was founded on 1 June 1946 in Shanghai as Chinese Petroleum Corporation (中國石油) by the government of the Republic of China (ROC, then on Mainland China). With the Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War, CPC was transferred from the Council of Resources to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The company merged all relevant facilities and companies (Japanese 6th Naval Fuel Depot, Teikoku Oil, Nippon Oil, etc.) in Taiwan. Its main businesses include surveying, extracting, refining, transporting, and selling petroleum. It also produces various chemicals and has retail outlets all over Taiwan. CPC's fixing of petrol prices helped Taiwan through the 1970s Energy Crisis.

Democratization and modern history

Taiwan's petroleum industry was a CPC monopoly prior to June 1996. However, deregulation allowed the establishment of privately owned and operated petroleum refinery enterprises, leading to Formosa Plastics Group's launch of Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (台塑石化). In February 2007, the company's board approved name change to "CPC Corporation Taiwan" and the Chinese name from 中國石油 to 台灣中油. This was to avoid confusion with PetroChina, the China state-run corporation which also has the Chinese name 中國石油, and was part of government efforts to de-Sinicize Taiwanese entities which have "China" in their names. However, the Kuomintang political party argued that the name change is not valid because no legislation was passed in the legislature to support it. KMT believes that the approval of the Legislative Yuan is required before a state-owned company can change its name.

In December 2018, production started at the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility in Australia, which is the world's largest floating production structure. The company holds shares alongside investors Shell, Inpex Corporation, and Korea Gas Corporation.

In 2019 a Norwegian tanker named Front Altair carrying a cargo of naphtha for CPC Corporation was attacked in the Gulf of Oman. The entire NT$1.07b (US$34m) cargo was lost but the crew escaped unharmed and the cargo was insured. After insurance CPC Corporation incurred direct costs of NT$8m (US$254,000) associated with the incident. The cargo represented two days of Taiwanese consumption but had minimal impacts as the company had 45 day supply in reserve.

In 2020 the first shipment of carbon-neutral liquified-natural gas arrived at CPC's Yung-An LNG Terminal in Kaohsiung. The shipment was the first in a new program designed to render fuel imports carbon-neutral by buying carbon credits on the global market. The initial purchase from Shell Eastern Trading was for credits certified by the UN's REDD+ program which supports forests in developing countries.

In 2020 CPC saw the first shipment of crude from the Chadian Oryx field, CPC had first begun exploration in Chad in 2006.

Facilities

File:北竿加油站 - Beigan Gas Station - 2014.04 - panoramio.jpg|A CPC petrol station in Lienchiang County. File:CPCCT Fuxing North Road Station fuel price banner 20200726.jpg|Prices outside station on Fuxing North Road (July 2020) File:CPCC Gueishan oil refinery 2.jpg|CPCC Gueishan oil refinery File:2018 Shen'ao Port of CPC Corporation N.jpg|Shen'ao port in Ruifang District, New Taipei City and Sheng Yun, File:CPC No.10 nearby West 12B Pier of Keelung 20140327.jpg|CPC No.10 fuel barge in Keelung Harbor File:CPC No.9 in Keelung Harbour 20150316a.jpg|CPC No.9 fuel barge in Keelung Harbor In 2019 CPC announced the construction of a third LNG terminal, a facility in Taoyuan expected to be completed by 2023 with an initial capacity of 1 million tonnes per year (tpy).

In 2019 CPC received approval from the Environmental Protection Administration to construct a LNG terminal in Taichung.

Suppliers

CPC Corporation was a historic buyer of Iranian oil and received a sanctions waiver from the United States when they imposed sanctions on Iranian oil imports. Despite receiving a sanctions waiver CPC Corporation chose to end its use of Iran as a source country.

In 2018 CPC signed an agreement with American Cheniere Energy to purchase liquefied natural gas for 25 years. Deliveries are set to begin in 2021.

Chairpersons

• Chen Chin-te (12 September 2016 – 18 August 2017)
• Yang Wei-fuu (30 August 2017 -) (acting)

References

References

1. (2007-02-10). "Name Change Of CPC To Take Effect Immediately: Economics Minister".
2. (2007-02-13). "Postal service, oil refiner change names". Taipei Times.
3. (2018-12-26). "World's largest floating LNG platform starts production in Australia". Reuters.
4. "Prelude starts production".
5. (14 June 2019). "CPC Taiwan estimates losses from Sea of Oman tanker at NT$8 million". Taiwan News.
6. (17 June 2019). "Taiwan's CPC says it has sufficient naphtha, gasoline stocks after tanker fire". S&P Global.
7. (9 March 2020). "1st shipment of carbon-neutral LNG arrives at Kaohsiung". Taiwan News.
8. (12 November 2020). "Taiwan's CPC to start shipping oil from Chad". Taiwan News.
9. (12 March 2019). "Taiwan's CPC to start building third LNG terminal by mid-2019".
10. Staff Writers. (28 June 2019). "Taiwan Business Quick Take". Taipei Times.
11. (6 November 2018). "Taiwan waived from US ban on Iranian oil". Taiwan News.
12. (December 2018). "Despite sanctions waiver from US, Taiwan's CPC Corp. ceases buying Iranian oil". Taiwan News.
13. (11 August 2018). "Cheniere signs 25-year LNG sales deal with Taiwan's CPC".