TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In case a war between Russia and Ukraine breaks out, supply of natural gas to Taiwan will be not greatly affected as only 10% of Taiwan's state-owned oil and gas company CPC’s total natural gas import came from Russia last year, the company said on Monday (Feb. 14).

CPC spokesman Chang Ray-chung (張瑞宗) told CNA that supply of natural gas to Taiwan comes from several foreign countries, with Qatar being the largest supplier followed by Australia. Other suppliers also include Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the U.S.

Chang pointed out that CPC imported about 1.8 million tons of natural gas from Russia last year, which accounted for nearly 10% of the total supply, per CNA. He added that Taiwan has a 5-year contract with Russia for natural gas from the Kuril Islands, but the contract, which will expire in March this year, has not been renewed.

With the quantity of spot buying from Russia being small, Russia-Ukraine tensions only have a limited impact on the supply of natural gas to Taiwan, CNA cited Chang as saying.



Currently, natural gas from long-term contracts accounts for about 75% of the total supply to CPC, while supply from spot buys accounts for 25%, the spokesman said. Spot buys for the first three months of this year have already been made, so the supply for the first quarter will be sufficient, he continued.

CPC will watch subsequent situations involving Russia, Ukraine and their allies closely and make careful decisions to stabilize the natural gas supply for the country, he said, per CNA.