LNG

UK major BP has signed a sale and purchase agreement with China's State Power Investment Corp. (SPIC) for supplying pipeline natural gas to the southern province of Guangdong province for a period of 10 years starting from 2023.

The Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange said natural gas transactions reached a record high last year as demand jumped because of gas replacing coal in the general energy mix and as the northern cities adopted policies to reduce pollution.

Chinese liquefied natural gas imports rose in August by 50 percent compared with the same month a year ago as the growth in shipments was matched by more coal-fired power use to supply electricity to the main cities during the hotter summer weather.

Woodside Petroleum Chief Executive Peter Coleman, whose company has substantial stakes in three Australian LNG plants and is a partner in a US project at Port Arthur in Texas, told the World Energy Conference in Washington DC that investment in strategic natural gas pipelines only gives an illusion of security of supply.

The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has reformed the wholesale pricing mechanism of natural gas and will start to unify prices from June 10 for residential and industrial users as domestic demand grows along with LNG and pipeline imports.

Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant and main supplier of pipeline supplies to the European Union, as well as owner of the expanding Sakhalin LNG plant, has fully re-entered the financial mainstream with an agreement involving JPMorgan Chase Bank of the US and two of the largest Japanese banks.