LNG

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), the leading Chinese refiner and importer of LNG from Australia, the US and Qatar and with expanding import facilities and storage infrastructure, is pushing ahead with more offshore output in the East China Sea and onshore shale-gas and shale-oil production.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), a leading importer of LNG from Australia, the US and Qatar and with expanding import facilities and storage infrastructure, has announced sizeable natural gas and oil flows from a strategic shale project in southwest China.

Chinese LNG imports dropped by almost 18 percent in March to their lowest level in two years as Covid-19 shutdowns in cities such as Shanghai curbed economic and industrial activity as well as fuel demand and led to Japan overtaking China as the largest North Asian importer last month.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, has been given the go-ahead by the state planning body to build another onshore LNG import terminal at Longkou in Shandong province at a cost of 8.3 billion Chinese yuan ($1.28Bln) and taking the size of nation’s network to 24 facilities.

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.

The area around Tianjin in northeast China currently has floating and onshore import terminals and is already the nation’s leading LNG importer, but an expansion of the onshore terminal and the construction of a new facility, the largest in China, will turn the Port into the main China LNG Hub and the biggest in Asia.

According to Customs data, Tianjin accounting for nearly 20 percent of all Chinese LNG imports during the first four months of 2020.

From January to April, LNG imports through the Tianjin port increased 25.6 percent year-on-year to total 3.92 million tonnes.

The LNG imported through the port mainly came from Australia, Russia and Asian nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Tianjin North onshore terminal is operated by China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec.

Sinopec, which plans to more than double its LNG receiving capacities to 41 million tonnes by 2025, currently operates three import terminals.

It is also a partner of US major ConocoPhillips in the Australia-Pacific LNG production plant in Queensland with a contract for more than 7 million tonnes per annum of supplies.

The Chinese company operates three terminal in China at Qingdao in Shandong province, the Tianjin North terminal and the Beihai facility in the Guangxi autonomous region bordering Vietnam.

There has also been a Tianjin floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) deployed since 2013 by China National Offshore Oil Corp., the nation's largest LNG importer.

The role during the past couple of winter seasons has been carried out by the “Höegh Esperanza”.

Sinopec’s plans include expanding the Tianjin terminal, which guarantees supplies to Beijing during winter, to have a capacity to handle 12 MTPA of imports.

Another import project is being developed at Tianjin by Beijing Gas Group and is known as the Nangang project.

It is currently scheduled to come on line in 2022 with 10 tanks and up to 2 million tonnes of storage.

Beijing Gas has obtained the government's approval to construct the terminal with huge storage tank capacity in the Nangang district of Tianjin City, giving the port area three separate facilities and eventually up to 25 MTPA of capacity, making it the biggest single LNG import centre in Asia.

Nangang will have an initial 5 MTPA of capacity and will then be gradually expanded.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, backed by the Chinese government, said in December 2019 it was investing $500 million in the new Beijing Gas LNG project.

With a population of around 113 million, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is one of the most important economic engines within China and has increasing natural gas demand.

Beijing Gas is mainly engaged in city-gas distribution and supplies more than 10 billion cubic metres per annum to the Chinese capital and surrounding areas.

Its new Tianjin terminal will also have a jetty to receive the largest carriers of 260,000 cubic metres capacity.

There will additionally be a pipeline of 230 kilometres to send regasified LNG supplies from the coast to gas storage facilities near Beijing. 

March 26 (LNGJ) - China will be unloading at least three LNG shipments in the days ahead. The 174,100  cubic metres capacity carrier “Cesi Lianyungang” will be unloading a cargo at the Qingdao terminal in eastern Shandong province from Australia-Pacific LNG at Gladstone in Queensland where terminal owner Sinopec is a shareholder. The 147,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Min Lu” will deliver a cargo on March 26 to CNOOC’s Fujian terminal from the BP-operated Tangguh plant in Indonesia. The 147,000 cubic metres capacity “Dapeng Moon” will then discharge a shipment on March 29 at the CNOOC Shenzhen Diefu regasification facility from the Woodside Dampier export terminal in Western Australia.

Jan 30 (LNGJ) - The 147,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Min Rong” will deliver a cargo on January 31 to the Chinese Fujian terminal from the Tangguh export plant in Indonesia, operated by BP of the UK, according to shipping data. The 174,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Gaslog Houston” will unload a shipment on February 2 at the Tangshan terminal in northeast China from the Gorgon plant on Barrow Island in Western Australia. The 172,000 cubic metres capacity “Kumul” will deliver a cargo on February 3 to the Chinese Qingdao terminal in eastern Shandong province from the plant in Papua New Guinea.

   The 174,100 cubic metres capacity vessel “Cesi Behai” is scheduled to deliver a cargo on Feb 6 to the Chinese Tianjin terminal for Sinopec from the Australia Pacific plant in Queensland. The 155,000 cubic metres capacity “Gaslog Savannnah” is delivering on February 8 to the Qingdao terminal, operated by Sinopec, from the Australia-Pacific plant in Queensland. The 210,185 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex vessel “Al Bahaiya” will unload a cargo on February 10 at the port of Tianjin from Qatargas at Ras Laffan.

   In other Asian deliveries, the 155,000 cubic metres capacity “LNG Venus” will deliver a cargo on February 7 to Singapore from Gladstone LNG in Queensland. The 216,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Al Thumama” will unload a cargo on February 5 at the Map Ta Phut terminal in Thailand from the Qatargas plant at Ras Laffan.

Sept 13 (LNGJ) – The 160,500 cubic metres capacity vessel “Sonangol Benguela” will unload a shipment on September 15 at the Tong-Yeong terminal in South Korea from the Angolan liquefaction plant at Soyo in southwest Africa. The 160,400 cubic metres capacity vessel “Cubal” is scheduled to unload a cargo from Angola on September 22 at the Yung-An terminal in Taiwan. The 155,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “British Ruby” will deliver a cargo on September 22 to the Map Ta Phut terminal in Thailand from Atlantic LNG plant in Trinidad. The 161,880 cubic metres capacity vessel “BW Pavilion Vanda” will deliver a cargo on September 18 to the South Korean Boryeong terminal, reloaded from Singapore. The 171,800 cubic metres capacity vessel “Papua” will deliver a shipment on September 21 to the Qingdao terminal, owned by Sinopec, in northeast Shandong province from Papua New Guinea. The 145,000 cubic metres capacity carrier Methane Heather Sally will deliver a shipment on September 30 to the Chinese Zhoushan terminal, operated by Enn Group, in eastern Zhejiang province, from Ras Laffan in Qatar.

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.