Nigerian gas to hit China

Posted by admin Headlines Thursday, January 20th, 2011

PetroChina’s first liquefied natural gas, LNG, cargo of the winter season, at about 70,000 tonnes, arrived in Shanghai from Peru on Tuesday, said a Chinese industry source.

A second cargo is due to arrive at the Shanghai terminal early next week from Africa, possibly from Nigeria, said the source with direct knowledge of the shipments.

PetroChina, which runs most of China’s gas pipeline network, does not normally import LNG and does not yet have an LNG terminal in operation. The Shanghai LNG terminal is operated by a joint venture between CNOOC and a Shanghai firm.

China’s gas imports are expected to swell as it opens new terminals for LNG and the government encourages residents to switch to gas from coal, the cheapest but dirtiest fossil fuel.

Its LNG imports hit a record 1.03 million tonnes in December, which pushed the 2010 volume up 69.1 percent to 9.36 million tonnes, data released on Wednesday showed.

PetroChina’s imports may have been a response to a government call in October for energy firms to increase gas output and imports to meet winter demand.

PetroChina has said it plans to buy 610 million cubic metres, or around 440,000 tonnes, of LNG to increase gas supplies in the winter-spring season.

Last year it imported one LNG cargo of some 90 million cubic metres to bolster winter supplies, though it had said it would import up to 700 million cubic metres.

-Vanguardwp_posts