Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that CNPC may suspend the purchase of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) stocks during the winter heating season. According to the plan, CNPC will increase the amount of spot purchases in other countries.
According to the Natural Gas Market Report 2018, the total amount of LNG imported by China in the first half of 2018 was 23.663 million tons, an increase of 51.3% over the same period of 2017. The growth rate is staggering. Most of the imports came from Australia, reaching 10.133 million tons, followed by Qatar. According to Anxun statistics, in the first half of 2018, China imported a total of 70 LNG stocks, 21 of which were from Australia.
Currently, CNPC is in deep consultation with Qatar and plans to purchase LNG through short-term and long-term agreements. Traders also said that Chinese buyers are already looking for alternatives to LNG supply due to Sino-US trade wars.
In addition, the Sino-Russian energy cooperation project, the Yamal LNG project, will build three LNG production lines with an annual output of 5.5 million tons. After completion, it will produce LNG 16.5 million tons per year. According to the signed long-term purchase and sale agreement, PetroChina will import 3 million tons of LNG from the Yamal project every year from 2019. On July 19, the first ship, Yamal LNG, arrived at the Jiangsu Rudong LNG receiving station and successfully delivered it to CNPC.
At the press conference of China’s first ship Yamal LNG, the National Energy Administration Director Bai Keli said that Russia will become the first importer of natural gas in China. Whether it is pipeline gas or liquefied natural gas (LNG), Russian natural gas will become more and more important in China’s natural gas supply chain.
The United States is a major exporter of LNG. Since 2016, 60% of US LNG has been sold in the spot market. In 2017, China’s imports accounted for 15% of US LNG exports.
In July of this year, the United States exported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China to a minimum. Shipping data shows that US LNG sales to China fell from nearly 400,000 tons in May to only 130,000 tons in July, while supply from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and Papua New Guinea increased.
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