Taoyuan LNG Terminal

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Taoyuan LNG Terminal, also known as Guantang LNG Terminal, (桃園觀塘LNG接收站，中油第三液化天然氣接收站，簡稱三接) is an LNG terminal under construction in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Location

The terminal is proposed for the Guantang Industrial Area in Taoyuan.

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Project details

Phase I

• Owner: 台灣中油天然氣事業部 (CPC Corporation)
• Parent company:
• Location: Guantang Industrial Area, Taoyuan, Taiwan
• Coordinates: 25.045533, 121.060884 (exact)
• Capacity: 3 mtpa
• Status: Construction
• Type: Import
• Start year: 2023

Phase 2

• Owner: 台灣中油天然氣事業部 (CPC Corporation)
• Parent company:
• Location: Guantang Industrial Area, Taoyuan, Taiwan
• Coordinates: 25.045533, 121.060884 (exact)
• Capacity: 3 mtpa
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Start year: 2025

Background

CPC Corporation is planning a third LNG import terminal in the Guantang Industrial Area of northern Taiwan, in part to fuel the expansion of Taipower's Datan Power Plant. The terminal would have capacity of 3 mtpa and is planned for 2023. Its capacity may later be expanded up to 6 mtpa in a second phase.

As of 2016 CPC had not yet bought land for the project and was still negotiating property prices. In March 2019 CPC announced that it would begin building the project by mid-2019 if it received the necessary permits and approvals.

The first phase began construction in November 2019 and could be completed by 2023, while the second phase is proposed with the target of full commissioning by 2025.

Opposition

Taiwanese scientists and environmental groups are fighting to stop the planned construction of the terminal, which they say will damage a unique algal reef ecosystem. About 100 people gathered on the beach in November 2018 to call for the project to be moved to another site. Scientists say construction will further damage a 27-kilometer reef along the Taoyuan coastline, which was built up over 7,500 years by a group of pink and purple algal species named crustose coralline algae. The reef is home to a wide variety of species, including hammerhead sharks, six species of moray eels, and the largest population of Polycyathus chaishanensis, an endangered coral species endemic to Taiwan that was only first described in 2010. Changes in sand movement caused by cement structures elsewhere along Taiwan’s coastline have led to significant coastal erosion, and scientists worry that sand dispersal caused by the new port could leave parts of the reef exposed and more vulnerable to strong waves, while other parts could become buried in the sand. The port could also stop marine animals from approaching the reef.

CPC claims the risk is minimal, saying that the port is designed to reduce sand migration and that surveys and computer simulations suggest breakwaters will divert sand-carrying waves and prevent the reef from being buried. To address environmental concerns, the terminal’s layout was redesigned in order to maintain the flow of nutrients. CPC has also stated that it will allocate funds annually toward conservation measures and set up a review committee that includes local authorities, residents, and scientists.

In July 2018, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) subcommittee at Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Agency rejected the project based on independent evaluations, according to the Taipei Times. But in October, the agency’s EIA grand assembly overruled that decision and approved the project.

In December 2021, a Taiwanese vote ended in favor of keeping the LNG terminal where it was initially planned, rather than moving it 450 meters further from the coast to protect coral reefs.

In March 2022, Taiwans Environmental Protection Agency approved construction of the project.