TAIPEI—Taiwan has not been approached by the United States on the issue of diverting some supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Europe if the Ukraine crisis leads to a disruption, the economy ministry said on Monday.
Responding to questions on whether Taiwan, a major Asian LNG customer, had been asked by the United States to examine whether it could supply Europe if Russia were to cut supplies as a result of tension over Ukraine, the economy ministry said it had “not received any relevant information or inquiries.”
In a statement, it added, “Our country’s natural gas imports come from a variety of sources, and (it) continues to adapt the procurement strategy to diversify import risks.”
Taiwan gets its LNG from more than 10 nations such as Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, and Russia, from both long- and medium-term contracts and on the spot market as needed, the ministry said.
The island “continues to maintain diversified and stable natural gas sources.”
Taiwan aims to generate more electricity from LNG in the shift away from both coal-powered and nuclear plants, and is building a massive new LNG terminal off its northwestern coast.
Last July, state-owned refiner CPC Corp. signed a 15-year LNG supply agreement with Qatar Petroleum.
CPC said that from this year it would buy 1.25 million tonnes of LNG annually from Qatar, for domestic consumption.
Taiwan began importing LNG from Qatar in 1997.
