Air Products, the US LNG equipment-maker and industrial gases company with several mega-projects in the Middle East and Asia, has signed a deal with the Uzbekistan Government and the national gas company to acquire a gas-to-syngas facility for $1 billion in the former Soviet republic.
Chinese natural gas imports by pipeline and as liquefied natural gas increased by more than 11 percent in March, though were still lower for the first quarter compared with 2022.
Chinese liquefied natural gas imports in August 2022 to its network of 22 regasification terminals tumbled by 29 percent because of a mixed economic recovery, high spot prices and more pipeline natural gas imports.
ACWA Power, a leading Saudi developer and operator of power generation, has joined with China to sign a share purchase agreement for a $1 billion combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) project in Uzbekistan, the Central Asian nation and leading natural gas producer.
Chinese LNG imports have slumped in 2022 so far and they have been offset by increasing pipeline natural gas imports from the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union.
Chinese liquefied natural gas imports reached almost 79 million tonnes in 2021, increasing by more than 18 percent and overtaking Japan to become the World No. 1 importer of the fuel.
Chinese natural gas imports, including LNG and pipeline natural gas, maintained rapid growth in September with imports amounting to 10.62 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 22.7 percent.
Chinese liquefied natural gas imports jumped in May to around 70 cargoes and pipeline gas imports dropped as the nation resumed LNG shipments from the US after a trade dispute and further re-opened its economy after the Covid-19 lockdowns.
PetroChina, the Hong Kong-listed affiliate of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., recorded a 6 percent increase in annual revenues to 2,520 billion Chinese yuan ($350.8Bln) but net profits fell 14 percent and it disclosed plans to renegotiate some natural gas supply contracts to improve profitability.
Chinese liquefied natural gas imports for June increased by 14.9 percent and the shipments for the first half put the country on track for another year of record regasification volumes.