LNG

Cartagena bunkers LNG from China with emission offsets

Cartagena, the LNG import terminal in southeast Spain, has hosted the first LNG bunkering operation in the Mediterranean with emissions offsets. Reposl organised the fuelling of the LNG-powered vessel, the Swedish-flagged “Fure Vinga” with 420 cubic metres of LNG. “The uniqueness of the operation is that this is the first time that Repsol, as a supplier of LNG, has guaranteed the compensation of the total CO2 emissions associated with the consumption of this LNG,” said the company. The re-fuelled ship, the “Fure Vinga”, is owned by the shipping company Furetank Rederi, headquartered in Donsö in Sweden. This chemical tanker had arrived in Cartagena from China and was scheduled to continue to its ultimate destination of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Pipeline gas gains attractiveness in China

Price-sensitive Chinese buyers increasingly prefer pipeline gas, sold on oil-indexed contracts, over spot LNG -- especially after the latest price spike for spot cargoes. Eager to limit domestic price rises, the National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) has set firm guidelines. Trucked LNG prices are not permitted to exceed 20% of the city gas price guideline, while several LNG import and regas terminals were notified that ex-factory trucked gas prices should not be higher than Yuan 5,500-6,000 per million ton. State-controlled CNOOC, PetroChina, Guangzhou Gas and Guangdong Energy have consequently left some high-priced LNG purchase tenders un-awarded. Instead, they turn to pipeline gas imported from Russia as well as the Central Asian republics of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

China’s gas imports jump

China’s combined imports of pipeline gas and LNG imports have risen by 17.5% to 20.80 million tonnes in January and February when unseasonably cold weather pushed up gas demand for space heating. China’s main LNG suppliers are Australia, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia and the US. According to China's General Administration of Customs, Asia’s largest economy also achieved a trade surplus of $103.25 billion for the first two months of 2021.

Total strikes deal with Shenergy Group

French major Total and China’s Shenergy Group, the leading energy player in the port of Shanghai, have signed binding agreements for the supply of up to 1.4 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Total, as well as the creation of a joint venture to expand LNG marketing in China. The joint venture, Total 49 percent and Shenergy 51 percent, will sell LNG supplied by Total to customers in Shanghai and throughout the neighbouring Yangtze River delta region. Additionally, Total will supply LNG to Shanghai Gas, the natural gas distribution subsidiary of Shenergy.