China’s demand for natural gas, infrastructure to rise even as trade war slows down economy
- Trade war only affects US exporters as China has slapped 25 per cent tariffs on the commodity
- China’s LNG imports could more than double to 111 million tonnes by 2025 from last year, according to Morgan Stanley
China’s appetite for natural gas and infrastructure needs to accommodate imports will grow strongly in the next few years, even as the prolonged trade war slows its economy and stifles purchases from the US, forcing it to look elsewhere, an industry expert says.
“The US-China trade war only affects US exporters because there is more than enough LNG available in the market – from places like Qatar, Australia, Nigeria,” Sveinung Stohle, chief executive of Oslo-based Hoegh LNG, owner of the world’s largest fleet of floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), said in an interview after the opening ceremony of its new Shanghai office.
“[While] China will be able to buy its LNG from other sources … the country needs more import handling capacity.”
Hoegh owns 10 of the world’s 26 operating FSRUs. The company has leased to state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp the only FSRU deployed in the country – at its gas receiving terminal in Tianjin.
The nation’s other 20 or so fixed onshore terminals – half of which have been built by China National Offshore – account for some 75 million tonnes of annual processing capacity.