Taiwan’s CPC Denies ‘Specific’ US Shale Gas Acquisition Talks

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Taiwan’s state-owned energy company CPC Corp said it is not in talks for “specific” shale gas fields in the United States, but it does not rule out any prospective partners and will make the most favourable decision based on its own evaluations.

CPC is in early stage discussions to buy shale-gas producing assets in the United States, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month, in a bid to secure natural gas supplies to fuel Taiwan’s economy.

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In a statement late on Monday, CPC said U.S. shale gas has long been an important target area for the company because of its high quality, mature extraction technology and favourable investment environment.

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“CPC will not rule out any prospective partners and will make the most favourable decision based on the evaluation results,” it said.

“As for reports that CPC is in the process of discussing the acquisition of specific shale gas fields in the United States, that is not true,” the company added, without elaboration.

Taiwan has pledged to increase its purchase of energy from the United States as a way of reducing its yawning trade surplus and head off tariffs.

In March, CPC signed an agreement with Alaska Gasline Development Corp to buy LNG and invest in the Alaska LNG project which will transport gas south from Alaska’s remote north via pipeline, to be shipped as LNG to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.