8 million barrels of crude oil to be shipped to Taiwan in April: CPC

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about a third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea in April to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp., Taiwan said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Legislature, CPC President J.Z. Fang (方振仁) said the state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes.

Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they can transport crude oil to the Red Sea via pipelines, while those in the United Arab Emirates are evaluating routing oil through pipelines to Oman for sea shipments, Fang said.

One tanker carrying about 2 million barrels has already been loaded and is currently docked in the Persian Gulf but has yet to depart due to the ongoing war.

To mitigate risks, CPC has also been diversifying its crude oil sources, including exploring supplies from West Africa and assessing imports from Southeast Asia, Australia and the United States, Fang said.

Also on Wednesday, Economic Affairs Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said the government is planning to provide financial support to help CPC address its mounting losses.

The company has been forced to absorb increases in crude oil prices on multiple occasions in recent years, including since the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran, to keep fuel prices stable.

To buffer the impact of the spike in crude oil prices triggered by the war, CPC has already run up losses of NT$9 billion (US$281.5 million), bringing its accumulated losses to NT$79.2 billion as of March 31, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Those losses have left the company with a net worth of only NT$86.1 billion, and lawmakers questioned Kung on plans to bolster CPC's finances.

Kung said three approaches would be used, including increasing the company's capital by NT$350 billion over four years. Of that, NT$168.7 billion has already been included as part of the government's 2027 fiscal budget request.

The MOEA will also help CPC get NT$300 billion in new financing to improve cash flow and refinance some of the company's debt, Kung said.

The other approach will be to provide subsidies to the company, he said, but the amount of the subsidies and the source of the funds are still being discussed.