UK major BP ships first cargo from third liquefaction Train at Tangguh LNG expansion project in Indonesia
UK major BP shipped the first cargo on behalf of the Tangguh LNG production-sharing contract partners in Indonesia as the third liquefaction Train entered commercial operations.
Chinese LNG imports decline though rebound expected with increase in prices for North Asian spot cargoes
Chinese liquefied natural gas imports declined slightly last month with most cargoes coming from Australia and Qatar while pipeline gas imports edged higher with energy demand improving for the needs of power and industry.
Deliveries of cargoes to China’s regasification terminals in September amounted to 5.69 million tonnes, or 84 cargoes, a drop of 2.8 percent on the 5.90MT, or 87 cargoes, received in September 2022, according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
Deliveries to China in August 2023 came to 6.32MT, an increase of almost 34 percent compared with 4.72MT in August 2022.
While supplies to China were weak for many months in 2022 because of Covid-19 lockdowns in the main cities, they began to rebound in September 2022 ahead of the winter heating season.
Network
China’s main LNG suppliers to its network of 25 import terminals are Australia, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the US and the Yamal plant in Arctic Russia.
The US no longer has China as a preferred destination for now with European countries taking more cargoes in 2023 since the ending of Nord Stream pipeline deliveries to Germany and the European Union amid Western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.
Most recently the Netherlands became the latest European country to overtake China in the overall list of recipients of US LNG.
China has now dropped to seventh place from third place last year and has been overtaken by the UK, Spain and France for uS cargoes as well as the Netherlands.
However, more winter volumes should point at China in the months ahead as the Japan-Korea Marker price for spot cargoes hit $17.305 per million British thermal units and was seen rising further in a tight market.
The September Chinese energy data also showed that pipeline natural gas imports by China increased slightly to 4.25MT from 4.21MT in September 2022.
The “Power of Siberia” pipeline from Russia is the main supplier. It runs for 3,000km (1,865 miles) through Siberia and into northeast China and a “Power of Siberia II” pipeline is being planned to deliver gas to China via Mongolia.
Additional pipelines inside China carry the gas for a further 2,110km through eight Chinese provinces in the north to Shanghai in eastern China.
Gas supply from the “Power of Siberia” pipeline reached just over 5 billion cubic metres in 2020, then 10.4 Bcm in 2021 and rose to 15 Bcm in 2022.
The volumes of Russian pipeline gas deliveries to China in 2023 are expected to reach around 22 Bcm or more.
Indonesia seeks solutions on domestic gas and upstream investments amid LNG and pipeline challenges
Indonesian energy executives held a recent online conference with the national oil and gas regulator on ways of increasing domestic natural gas demand such as constructing more pipeline infrastructure to support the home market as a less expensive alternative to increasing LNG exports.
