The year 2012 was a time of international politico-economic uncertainty, with the global economy
experiencing weak growth because of debt problems in Europe and America and slumping financial
and employment markets in many advanced economies. Taiwan was affected by this situation:
economic growth slowed, unemployment and consumer prices rose simultaneously and private
consumption weakened. Amid this wave of global economic recession, CPC worked in line with
the government’s policies of price stabilization and concern for social wellbeing by cutting price
increases for petroleum products and gas by half, although this resulted in huge losses for the
company. Fortunately, the government announced a petroleum price rationalization program on
April 1, 2012 restoring the normal mechanism for petrol and diesel price adjustments and allowing
CPC to avoid further losses. By the concerted efforts of all at CPC, the company’s overall revenues
reached a record high of about NT$1.2 trillion for the year.
Industrial safety and environmental protection form the foundation of sustainable operations.
In promoting industrial safety, we not only ask our staff to adhere strictly to standard operating
procedures (SOPs) and proactively identify potential hazards but also to thoroughly implement
checking mechanisms, increase the frequency of unscheduled safety checks and reinforce the
emergency response function, accident prevention and rescue techniques - all in the spirit of “100%
safety, zero accidents.” Thanks to the efforts of all at CPC, we were honored with two awards in 2012:
an “Outstanding Activity” award by the Council of Labor Affairs during the annual National Workplace
Safety and Health Week; and annual “Model of Industrial Safety” excellent unit and personnel awards
for enterprises under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In the “Excellent Unit for Promotion of Industrial
Safety and Health” section of the latter, CPC’s First Place in Division A reflected the attainment
of international standards in our various industrial safety measures. In the area of environmental
protection, we have continued to promote both the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and
greater waste reduction and recycling. We have organized a variety of environmental “edutainment”
activities to disseminate familiarity with the petroleum and petrochemical industries and environmental
protection concepts. We also participated in national tree-planting and seedling-giveaway activities
and we took the lead in providing battery-switching services for electric motor-scooters in support
of the Penghu islands low-carbon program. In these and other ways we have demonstrated our
practical support for energy conservation and carbon reduction.
In the field of social service, CPC has continued to show its concern for society and to care for
disadvantaged groups in practical ways. We have continued “adopting” children from poor families,
by organizing “adoption” meetings and participating in World Vision’s “30 Hour Famine” activities.
We have provided long-term support for the development of elite sportspersons such as tennis star
Yung-Jan Chan and table-tennis ace Chih-Yuan Chuan, who both represented Taiwan in the 2012
London Olympics; we cooperate with the Eden Social Welfare Foundation in organizing painting
exhibitions that aim to give more people insight into the commitment and competence of the
physically-challenged; we pay periodic visits to halfway houses, orphanages and children’s homes,
donate to the construction of community activity centers and libraries; and join in the sponsorship
of cultural performances and the donation of used computers to help impoverished families. It is
by these constructive means that we whole-heartedly give back to society and fulfill our corporate
social responsibility.
We intend to boost Taiwan’s independence in oil and gas resources through our overseas
exploration activities and so we are seeking cooperation with international energy companies in
new overseas areas with potential for oil and gas exploitation. In order that CPC can take timely
advantage of development trends in the new field of unconventional energy and get a firm grasp
of its technology and impact on global markets in natural gas and petrochemicals, we are also
negotiating cooperation in shale-gas developments. In 2012 we succeeded in acquiring five new
exploration blocks: Theall, Bougere Central, Cutthroat A and East Skinner Lake in the U.S.; and
Haute Mer A in the Republic of Congo. We also signed a contract with Husky Energy of Canada for
cooperative exploration of the deep-sea Tainan Basin block in the Taiwan Straits and acquired oil
and gas rights to the Agadem block in Niger and the Prelude gas field in Australia.
There has also been good news from onshore drilling in Taiwan. Guantian No. 4 well in Tainan
came on stream with 86,000 cubic meters of natural gas, and has joined Guantian wells No. 1, 2,
and 3 in providing gas to the Guantian Industrial Park. We will continue exploration and acquisition
activities at home and abroad with the aim of oil and gas production taking up 10% of our refining
capacity and contributing 30% of our after-tax profit by 2019.
In the output of oil products, the completion of an RFCC plant at the Dalin Refinery has delivered
annual production of 450,000 metric tons of propylene, 2.0 million kiloliters of gasoline and
600,000 kiloliters of diesel fuel, boosting our production value by NT$10 billion per year and
bringing additional stability to domestic supplies of petrochemical products and materials. To further
increase revenue, we will use propylene from the new RFCC plant to produce butyl alcohol and
other high-value products such as the isononanol (INA) planned for a joint-venture project. We will
also plan joint investments with foreign petrochemical companies and will work actively under the
government’s “quantity outside, quality inside” policy direction with the aim of making the refining
business a developing profit center for the company.
Message from the Chairperson
Message from the Chairperson
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