Taiwan to ramp up purchases of US natural gas this year

TAIPEI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan will ramp up its purchases of U.S. natural gas to make up about one-third of its imported supply this year, and reduce purchases from other countries, officials said on Thursday.

Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the U.S., has shown an interest in a potentially enormous new liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska that the Trump administration has been pushing hard to allies in Asia as a supply option.

Taiwan Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin, whose ministry is in charge of energy policy, told reporters in Taipei that Taiwan wants more gas from the United States rather than other countries.

Fang Jeng-zen, chairman of Taiwan's state-owned refiner CPC Corp, said at the same briefing the plan was to get around one-third of imports from the U.S. this year.

"We plan to increase purchases of natural gas from the U.S. to 30%-33% this year from about 10% now," Fang said.

Last March, CPC signed an agreement with Alaska Gasline Development Corp to buy liquefied natural gas and invest in the project, a move Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said would ensure the island's energy security.

The United States has consistently accounted for about 10% of Taiwan's imports of LNG this decade.

Qatar and Australia were its biggest suppliers in 2025, each accounting for one-third of the 23.81 million metric tons in imports, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

While Qatar's share of Taiwan's LNG market has steadily risen to 33.5% in 2025 from 25% in 2021, Australia's share fell to 33.4%, its lowest since 2021.