CPC Corporation () is a state-owned

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...

, and

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic ...

company in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and is the core of the Taiwanese

petrochemicals Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

industry.

History

Early history

CPC was founded on 1 June 1946 in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

as Chinese Petroleum Corporation (中國石油) by the government of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northea ...

(ROC, then on Mainland China). With the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

's retreat to Taiwan after the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

, 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 , formerly , or NOC or ''Shin-Nisseki'' (新日石) is a Japanese petroleum company. Its businesses include exploration, importation, and refining of crude oil; the manufacture and sale of petroleum products, including fuels and lubricants; and ...

, 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 The 1970s energy crisis occurred when the Western world, particularly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, faced substantial petroleum shortages as well as elevated prices. The two worst crises of this period we ...

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 desinicize Taiwanese entities which have "China" in their names. However, the

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 The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel ...

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 Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music *The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ea ...

carrying a cargo of

naphtha Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ...

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 credit A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit a set amount of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas (tCO2e). Carbon credits and carbon markets are a compo ...

s 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

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Repub ...

ian Oryx field, CPC had first begun exploration in Chad in 2006.

Facilities

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 Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

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 Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the v ...

for 25 years. Deliveries are set to begin in 2021.

Chairpersons

Chen Chin-te Chen Chin-te (; born 26 September 1961), also known as Derek Chen, is a Taiwanese politician. Career Chen attended National Taipei University of Technology and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Through his activism, Chen bec ...

(12 September 2016 - 18 August 2017) * Yang Wei-fuu (30 August 2017 -) (acting)

References

External links

CPC homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:CPC Corporation Chinese companies established in 1946 Energy companies established in 1946 Oil and gas companies of Taiwan Chemical companies established in 1946 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1946 Government-owned companies of Taiwan Companies based in Kaohsiung National oil and gas companies