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arrangement that enables it both to acquire deep-water
exploration technologies and mitigate the associated risks.
Comprehensive interpretation and evaluation of 2D seismic
data covering 5,154 km has been completed and four
prospective leads identified; further assessment is underway.
Husky returned 25% of the contract area in December 2015
and entered the second stage of exploration.
Assessing energy potential in the Taiwan
Strait and East and South China Seas
CPC has joined forces with National Taiwan University and
National Cheng Kung University to serve as joint contractors
to the Bureau of Mines, MOEA, for the government-mandated
assessment of potentially oil and natural gas-bearing
structures in the East China Sea and South China Sea. CPC
has completed interpretation and comprehensive assessment
of 3D seismic data covering 2,196 sq. km in the Taichao
contract area and plans to drill one well in the area showing
the greatest potential.
Overseas Exploration & Development
As of end-2015, CPC was engaged with international oil
companies in the joint exploration of 25 fields
1
in 8 countries,
the operation of 1,152 producing wells; 78 new wells had been
drilled and 83 existing ones repaired. That year, CPC's share
of the output from 15 producing fields in Ecuador, Indonesia,
Niger, and the USA was just over 5.34 million barrels of crude
oil and 300 million m
3
of natural gas. Included in that total
were both conventional and unconventional fuels, such as
heavy fuel oil, coal bed gas and tight (shale) gas; ultra-low
pressure yield increase methods and other yield enhancement
technologies were employed to lift large volumes of high-
quality hydrocarbons.
Taiwan has only very limited indigenous energy resources
and depends on imports for almost all of its fossil fuels.
CPC has therefore focused on doing better at expanding
its upstream operations by developing its own reserves
overseas – ramping-up exploration and production at
source abroad - to help stabilize Taiwan's supply of oil
and natural gas and ease the impact on the public of
fluctuations in their price. This has taken place in the
context of the government's policy of strengthening Taiwan's
energy security mechanisms and promoting international
cooperation in energy-related matters.
In order to improve its overall strategic positioning and stay in
alignment with the philosophy of 'active expansion, focused
development', CPC has adopted exploration strategies that
aim to gradually increase its ratio of self-owned and self-
controlled energy reserves within the entire sourcing range.
Achieving that means, in summary: expanded development
of overseas resources while exploiting indigenous resources
to maximum capacity; boosting exploration activity through
both M&A and partnering for progress; and training and
retention of talent, an important renewable resource essential
to success.
Taiwan's onshore oil & gas: ongoing
development
In 2015 CPC completed 2D seismic surveys extending over
75 kms of the mid-section of the Pingtung Plain, a precise
gravity survey of the Fongshan mud structures, other
geological surveys covering 66 sq. km and repaired three
producing wells. Production from 35 wells in southern and
south-west Taiwan yielded 370 million cbm of natural gas and
9,500 kiloliters of condensate.
Oil & gas exploration offshore Taiwan
CPC is cooperating with Canada's Husky Energy in the
exploration of deep-water blocks in the Tainan Basin, an
Exploration & Production
* Note 1: As of the end of May 2016, the number of jointly explored fields fell to 24.
9
Upstream Operations