State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said it is seeking increased compensation from the Venezuelan government for oil assets seized in 2007.
A payment of US$125 million that Venezuela put forward is too low, John Hsu (徐永耀), chief executive of the refiner’s exploration and production division, said in Taipei yesterday.
The company owns 6.5 percent in the Corocoro oilfield, which produces about 20,000 barrels of oil a day, he said.
“We aren’t satisfied with the offer,” Hsu said.
The Venezuelan government suspended CPC’s rights in the field in February 2007 under a takeover order issued by President Hugo Chavez, he said.
The refiner, which has investments in Africa, Southeast Asia, the US, Australia and Latin America, wants to cut crude import costs by acquiring overseas oil assets, the company said in January.
It is also drilling wells on Taiwan and off its coast.
CPC has invested US$78.7 million in the Corocoro field in the Gulf of Paria West and US$7 million for 7.5 percent in Paria East, which had not started production, he said.
The Taipei-based company will seek international arbitration if talks with the Venezuelan government fail, he said.
CPC operates 42 oil and gas wells in Taiwan and plans to drill three this year, it said in a report to lawmakers on March 16.
The company is also jointly searching for oil and gas in the Taiwan Strait with Beijing-based China National Offshore Oil Corp (中海油).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the