TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A recent attack by Iran on QatarEnergy's largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility sparked a crisis for nations across Europe and Asia that rely on Qatari LNG exports. Qatar Energy announced it cannot fulfill its export contracts, leaving these countries facing a potential energy shortage.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) led a delegation, including Minister of Economic Affairs (經濟部) Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), to the Legislative Yuan (立法院), Taiwan's legislature, on Friday (March 6) to present the government's policy and administrative report and address questions. Minister Kung revealed that Taiwan has signed a memorandum of understanding and an ART contract with the United States to redirect some of its LNG imports from Qatar to the U.S. He projected that this shift will increase U.S. imports to 25% by 2029.
Minister Kung explained that currently, about 10% of Taiwan's LNG imports come from the U.S., and the government planned to gradually increase this percentage to reduce dependency on the Middle East. Additionally, Minister Kung provided updates on the progress of restarting Taiwan's nuclear power plants. He noted that the self-safety inspection of the third nuclear plant has commenced, supported by a memorandum of understanding with Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which will send personnel to assist in the inspection.
The government plans to submit the third nuclear plant's reoperation proposal to the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC, 核能安全委員會) for review by the end of March, aligning with the ongoing self-safety inspection. For the second nuclear plant, Minister Kung mentioned that its evaluation will proceed concurrently. However, the timeline will extend slightly due to the ongoing construction of dry storage for fuel rods, which must be completed before the self-safety inspection can begin.