LNG

The first ever liquefied natural gas cargo paid for in Chinese yuan instead of US dollars has been unloaded at an import terminal in China’s southern Guangdong province.

Gaztransport and Technigaz, the French technology and engineering company for LNG storage, has signed an additional cooperation agreement related to the Tianjin Nangang LNG import terminal currently being developed in northeast China.

GTT and the developer, Beijing Gas Group, said their accord is for collaboration for the phase II and phase III parts of the terminal construction beyond phase 1 covered by the current agreement.

The second and third phases of the Tianjin Nangang construction will include building six additional storage tanks, each of 220,000 cubic metres capacity.

This agreement was signed at a ceremony held at the French Embassy in Beijing in the presence of French Ambassador Laurent Bili, Chairman of Beijing Enterprises Group Tian Zhenqing and Li Yalan, Chairwoman of the board of Beijing Gas, along with Adnan Ezzarhouni, General Manager of GTT in China.

“I am convinced that GTT, a company of excellence in the field of natural gas, has a great future in China, which has resolutely embarked on the path of energy transition,” state French Ambassador Bili.

The first firm agreement for Tianjin Nangang LNG followed a November 2019 accord between GTT and Beijing Gas on the occasion of the presidential visit to China of French President Emmanuel Macron for talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

GTT subsequently received an order in June 2020 for the design of two 220,000 cubic metres capacity membrane tanks.

Built as part of the Tianjin Nangang project, located east of the capital Beijing, these two tanks when completed will be the largest in China.

“In this new agreement, GTT will also support Beijing Gas in upgrading the National Standards of LNG onshore tanks,” explained GTT.

Beijing Gas Chairwoman Li Yalan said the Tianjin Nangang LNG project was progressing smoothly.

“I hope Beijing Gas and GTT continue to strengthen their cooperation and jointly promote the adoption of the lower carbon footprint membrane full containment technology among Chinese gas companies,” added Li.

The Tianjin Nangang terminal will be the third serving the northeast Chinese port supplying the gas needs of Beijing.

The existing facilities currently include the Tianjin North onshore terminal operated by China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and a separate floating terminal provided by Norway’s Höegh LNG in the form of a floating storage and regasification unit on long-term charter to China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC).

“We are very pleased to extend our partnership with Beijing Gas, proof that the membrane full containment technology meets expectations in terms of technological performance, cost competitiveness and level of safety,” stated Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

Gaztransport and Technigaz, the French technology designer of LNG maritime and onshore storage systems, has received and order for China’s largest ever LNG storage tanks for the Nangang import terminal proposed for Tianjin City, east of Beijing.

GTT said it order came from the building company China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Co. (HQC) for the design of two membrane full-containment LNG tanks, each with net capacity of 220,000 cubic metres.

This LNG tanks order follows a preliminary agreement signed in November 2019 between GTT and the Chinese state-owned company Beijing Enterprises Group in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The Nangang terminal is being developed by Beijing Gas and will give the Tianjin port city area three import facilities to guarantee energy supply security to the Chinese capital.

The terminal will have an initial 5 million tonnes per annum of capacity and adds to the supply available from Sinopec’s Tianjin North import terminal and the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit capacity deployed in recent years by China National Offshore Oil Corp.

“We are honoured that the project promoted by HQC, proposing our technology, has been awarded,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

“GTT is proud to contribute in the technological partnership between France and China,” he added.

The company said that it would design these membrane tanks which will be fitted with the GST technology developed by GTT.

“The onshore storage tanks will be located in the Tianjin south port Industrial Zone and are expected to be commissioned during the last quarter of 2022,” explained GTT.

HQC Chairwoman Wang Xinge said GTT had given full support to her company for the building of the first and largest GTT full-containment tanks in China.

“We are proud to have been awarded this project and to lead the innovation in China together with Beijing Gas and GTT,” she stated.

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.

It is also an area where the Chinese government has concentrated its “Blue Skies” policy to reducing coal consumption will also deliver the co-benefit of improving air quality.

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.

The new Tianjin terminal project has already been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Beijing Gas said its terminal in Tianjin was expected to be completed by 2022 and would include emergency reserves comprising 10 extra storage tanks.

There would also be a pipeline of 230 kilometres to send regasified LNG supplies to gas storage facilities near Beijing.

Novatek, the Russian natural gas company and operator of the Yamal liquefied natural gas plant and developer of the Arctic LNG II project, has signed an accord to set up a joint venture with a Russian bank and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, to market LNG in China.

Alaska LNG, the project to export the state’s North Slope natural gas resources to Asia, has reached an agreement with BP of the UK and Alaska Gasline Development Corp. on feed-gas supplies, including price and volume.