CHINA National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Sinopec and PetroChina are planning to construct LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminals in nine Chinese ports over the next decade in a bid to help satisfy China’s massive and fast-growing demand for energy.
The new import terminals are being constructed as China plans to augment its yearly LNG imports to 50million tonnes by 2020.
Currently, China has only two terminals, run by CNOOC, which import LNG from Fujian and Shenzhen, which can handle some 6million tonnes of LNG per year.
Under the Beijing government’s existing authorisations, plants will be constructed in Shanghai, Ningbo, Jiangsu and Dalian. The first of these plants, in Shanghai, is scheduled to become operational by the end of this year/early next.
CNOOC has already offered to construct import terminals at Zhuhai and Hainan; Sinopec has proposals for Wenzhou, Shandong, Rizhao and Zhuhai, and PetroChina has facilities in Qinzhou and Hebei in its sights, plus terminals in Jiangsu and Dalian.
Chinese demand for natural gas is expected to reach 110billion cu m in 2010, up from 80billion in 2008, according to Wang Tianxi, general director of China City Gas Society.