Sinopec said it was keeping up a steady flow of Australian LNG imports at onshore facility at Tianjin port
China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), one of the main Chinese LNG importers, is taking volumes from Western Australia as well as its booked cargoes from the Australia-Pacific export plant in Queensland in the East of the country.
The 159,800 cubic metres capacity carrier “Woodside Rogers” lifted a cargo around mid-November for the two-week voyage to Sinopec’s Tianjin North onshore terminal.
Sinopec said that its Tianjin North onshore LNG terminal had received 7.06 million tonnes of LNG since the start of 2020, almost the total of its contracted volumes from the Australia-Pacific LNG plant in Queensland.
Sinopec said the “Woodside Rogers” was the 107th LNG carrier to have docked and unloaded at Tianjin in 2020.
“Since Tianjin terminal started accepting LNG in 2018, it has received and unloaded a total of 248 ships with about 16.5MT,” said Sinopec.
“With the start of the winter heating, the terminal in Tianjin is important to ensure the natural gas supply for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,” it added.
Sinopec additionally stated that its LNG imports rose to 12.53MT tonnes on an annualized basis, including more than 7MT from Australia.
Sinopec, which plans to more than double its LNG receiving capacities to 41MT by 2025, currently has capacity at three Chinese import terminals and is a partner of US major ConocoPhillips in the Australia-Pacific LNG export plant in Queensland.
The Chinese company’s regasification capacity in addition to Tianjin is at two other facilities, the Qingdao terminal in Shandong province and the Beihai LNG terminal in the Guangxi autonomous region bordering Vietnam.
China is currently reforming its pipeline and terminal systems by giving more access to third-party shippers.
Sinopec’s plans include expanding the Tianjin terminal, which supplies Beijing, to have a capacity to handle 12MT of imports.
It was recently estimated that China imported 23.5MT of Australian LNG in the first 10 months of 2020, in line with the same period last year.
Australia remains the world’s leading LNG exporter and will be just ahead of Qatar with 78MT of output in 2020 versus Qatar’s 77MT.
All Australian LNG projects export to China, though around half come from the three Queensland coal-seam-gas-to-LNG plants in which two Chinese companies have stakes.
Sinopec’s volumes from APLNG and China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s stake in the Royal Dutch Shell-owned Queensland Curtis LNG facility.
The Nangang import project being developed will give Tianjin port a third terminal scheduled to come on line in 2022 with 10 tanks and up to 2 million tonnes of storage.
Tianjin’s Nangang project is led by another company, Beijing Gas, and will have an initial 5 MTPA of capacity.
Chinese energy major Sinopec plans to increase LNG import capacity and shale-gas production
China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., the Chinese energy major also known as Sinopec and with LNG stakes including in the state of Queensland in Australia, said it was planning to boost its LNG capacity and supplies as well as its shale-gas assets.
LNG ship movements
Jan 29 (LNGJ) - The 216,200 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Sahla” was unloading a shipment on January 29 at the Pakistani Port Qasim facilities, near Karachi, from Ras Laffan in Qatar, according to shipping data. The 160,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Asia Energy” was scheduled to deliver a cargo on February 4 to the Japanese Sendai import terminal from the Dampier export facility in Western Australia, operated by Woodside Petroleum. The 174,100 cubic metres capacity carrier “Cesi Gladstone” will deliver a cargo on February 5 to China’s Beihai terminal in the southwest Guangxi region, operated by Sinopec, from the Australia Pacific LNG plant in Queensland, operated by ConocoPhillips. The 174,000 cubic metres capacity “Gaslog Greece” is scheduled to deliver a shipment on February 7 to the Singapore import terminal from the Gorgon export plant on Barrow Island in Western Australia, operated by Chevron Corp.
Chinese major Sinopec posts improved profits with focus on its shale gas and LNG assets
Chinese energy major Sinopec, whose LNG assets include a stake in the Australia-Pacific LNG plant in the state of Queensland, said nine-month profits surged more than 31 percent to 38.4 billion yuan ($5.7Bln) compared with 29.19Bln yuan in the same period of 2016 as it invested more in LNG import terminals and fuel stations.
China and India cargoes
June 14 (LNGJ) - The 174,100 cubic metres capacity “Cesi Gladstone” will unload a shipment on June 26 at the Chinese Beihai import terminal, operated by Sinopec, from the Australia Pacific LNG plant on Curtis Island in Queensland, according to shipping data. The 148,300 cubic metres capacity “LNG Imo” will deliver a cargo on June 28 to the Indian Dahej terminal near Mumbai from the Bonny Island plant in Nigeria. The 174,000 cubic metres capacity “Gaslog Greece” is scheduled to deliver a cargo on July 8 to the Yung-An import terminal in Taiwan from Nigeria LNG
Japanese shipping line takes delivery of LNG carrier for Australian shipments to China
Mitsui OSK Lines, the Japanese shipping company, said the latest LNG carrier it will operate was delivered from the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in the Chinese port of Shanghai to transport cargoes from Australia to China.
