On the move: an LNG tanker
Dapeng ends taste for spot LNG
Guangdong Dapeng LNG, China's first liquefied natural gas terminal, sees no need for more spot LNG purchases this year, the company chief said today, due to the imminent start of term supplies from Qatar.
"We have bought 12 spot cargoes this year," Thomas M. King told Reuters on the sidelines of the 4th Annual Asia LNG Summit in Beijing, adding that supplies from Qatar under CNOOC's long-term deal would replace demand for spot cargoes.
Dapeng, a joint venture between CNOOC, BP and other companies in southern China, would receive its first Qatar LNG cargo under a long-term supply deal at the Guangdong terminal very soon, a second company official said.
China, still a small LNG user compared to neighbours like Japan and South Korea, now operates two LNG terminals, Dapeng in Guangdong and Putian in Fujian.
Imports have risen sharply in recent years to feed power plants and rapidly growing residential use under massive urbanisation.
Apart from term supply pacts with Australia, Indonesia and Qatar, China has also been taking spot cargoes from Russia, Oman and Equatorial Guinea.