CPC to get Taiwan's first Qatar LNG cargo

CPC Corp., Taiwan's only liquefied natural gas importer, expects to receive its first cargo of the fuel supplied under a multi-year contract with Qatar next month.

Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co. (II) completed loading on Sunday, Taipei-based CPC said in a statement on its Web site. The two companies have a 25-year contract for as much as 3 million tons of supplies annually.

CPC is diversifying its sources of LNG, which accounts for more than 95 percent natural gas supply in Taiwan. The oil refiner plans to spend between A$35 billion (US$33 billion) and A$45 billion for between 2 million and 3 million tons annually of LNG over 15 to 20 years from Woodside's proposed Browse project off northwest Australia. CPC is also aiming to import LNG from Iran's Persian LNG and Russia's Sakhalin island, the Taiwanese company said yesterday.