LNG

ENN Natural Gas, the leading Hong Kong-listed and independent Chinese LNG and city-gas company, has signed a supply accord for volumes from an LNG export project being developed at Al Ruwais Industrial City in the United Arab Emirates.

China Gas Holdings, one of the leading non-state controlled companies in the Chinese city-gas and LNG sectors, said one of its subsidiaries signed a US LNG supply agreement with Venture Global for cargoes from Louisiana.

The Chinese company said its trading unit China Gas Hongda Energy Trading Co. signed two 20-year LNG Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) for free-on-board (FOB) cargoes.

Under the deals, China Gas will buy 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from the Plaquemines LNG project and another 1 MTPA from the CP2 LNG export facility to be constructed near Venture Global’s existing Calcasieu Pass export plant.

China Gas is involved in more than 600 projects in cities and towns with city-gas pipeline concessions, 17 natural gas pipeline transmission projects and operates over 550 LNG and compressed natural gas filling stations for vehicles.

“As a major participant in China’s energy market, we are committed to providing reliable and low-carbon LNG to Chinese customers,” said Liu Minghui, Chairman and President of China Gas.

Strengthens portfolio

“These two SPAs increase additional volumes for our LNG portfolio and strengthen China Gas’s supply ability,” stated Liu.

Michael Sabel, Chief Executive of Arlington, Virginia-based Venture Global said he was pleased to have the Chinese firm as a customer.

“Through relentless execution and innovation, our company will continue to bring much needed new capacity to the global LNG market, supporting energy security and environmental progress both in Asia and Europe,” declared Sabel.

China Gas has many subsidiaries and one of them was behind one the worst gas pipeline accidents in China in recent years and China Gas took full responsibility.

The explosion occurred in an area in Shiyan City in the northeast province of Hubei Province on the 13th of June 2021 and killed 25 people and left 27 others with serious injuries.

The pipeline system in Shiyan was the responsibility of one of the subsidiaries of China gas, Shiyan Dongfeng Zhongran City Gas Development Co.

However, China Gas accepted the blame and pledged to improve safety standards in the gas industry after an investigation by the provincial government exposed serious safety flaws.

The accident occurred when leaked natural gas from a pipeline gathered in the confined space underneath buildings and caused an explosion when coming into contact with sparks in fumes from nearby catering outlets.

The investigation into the incident exposed problems in the Chinese gas sector exacerbated by illegal construction, long-term failure to investigate gas leaks, chaotic property management and inefficient emergency responses to major incidents.

ENN Group, the leading non-state energy company in China with LNG and city-gas assets, reported an increase in annual revenues and profits as its reach extended to 18 more large towns and cities in 2020.

China’s Huaying Natural Gas, a private company building a city-gas business in the southern province of Guangdong, said it had begun construction of a liquefied natural gas import terminal with receiving capacity of 6 million tonnes per annum.

The facility is located in the port city Chaozhou and involved first-phase investment of 8 billion Chinese yuan ($1.22 billion) and with the start-up scheduled for 2023.

The company also plans to invest 4 billion yuan to build some ancillary facilities at the terminal and to purchase its own LNG carrier to bring in cargoes.

Three gas storage tanks with capacity of 200,000 cubic metres each will be built alongside the first stage of the Chaozhou project and another four storage tank are planned for the second phase.

The Chaozhou terminal will add to the seven LNG terminals already operated in Guangdong province, along with two other projects that are currently under construction.

A total of nine Chinese LNG projects, including new terminals and expansions, were scheduled to advance in 2020, though several have been delayed.

State-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corp. currently has capacity at nine of China’s network of the more than 20 LNG import terminals and ports.

CNOOC’s LNG import capacity is held at most of the regasification terminals south of Shanghai, the port city where it has capacity at one facility.

It has additionally been a foundation customer with the Australia Queensland Curtis export plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

CNOOC said in its most recent earnings that it was planning to increase storage capacity at its Binhai import terminal under construction in the eastern Jiangsu province, where it would reserve two tanks to help with the imported gas needs for a province in Central China.

CNOOC said it would construct around 1.62 million cubic metres more of storage capacity for LNG at the facility.

The expansion will consist of six tanks, each with storage capacity of 270,000 cubic metres each and construction is expected to be completed in 2023.

The first phase of CNOOC’s Binhai LNG terminal is still being built and will be capable of receiving 3 million tonnes of LNG per annum and will have four storage tanks of 220,000 cubic metres each.

Total investment in the project has risen to 17 billion Chinese yuan ($2.60 billion), up from an initial estimate of 14.4Bln yuan ($2.2Bln).

CNOOC said that the government of Henan, a province in central China, will invest in two of the tanks, though CNOOC will operate them to meet growing natural gas demand in both Henan and Jiangsu.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), is the other main Chinese state-controlled LNG importer.

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.

ENN Energy Holdings, the Chinese city-gas company and owner of the Zhoushan LNG import terminal in eastern Zhejiang province, said it expected to buy more spot LNG cargoes for the rest of 2020 and aims to increase pipeline and terminal capacity in domestic market restructuring.

ENN Energy Holdings, the Chinese city-gas company and owner of the Zhoushan LNG import terminal in eastern Zhejiang province, reported a jump in annual profits and increased retail gas sales.

China Gas Holdings, the largest independent Chinese city-gas distributor and owner of 555 filling stations for gas-powered vehicles, posted a surge in fiscal first-half net profits and had over US$3.5 billion in revenues as Beijing’s “Blue Skies” anti-pollution policies helped increase natural gas use and LNG imports.

ENN Energy Holdings Chief Executive Zhang Yesheng said the company would be expanding its LNG and natural gas activities, including constructing new pipelines in eastern Zhejiang province and city-gas connections elsewhere as annual profits increased along with revenues.