Chinese oil giants step up LNG development
April 14th, 2011 | China.org.cnAs the price of oil continues to climb, China’s oil companies have stepped up efforts to develop their emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) business. China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) are well on their way to deploying a network of LNG terminals along the coastline.
Chinese experts see LNG as an environmentally friendly replacement to expensive, dirty fossil fuel imports, CNPC researcher Xu Bo said yesterday at the 2011 Asia Gas Congress.
“LNG, as a cleaner substitute for coal, will help China cut its crude oil imports and reduce carbon emissions,” Xu said. Moreover, because China is a natural gas-rich country, increased LNG production could reduce dependence on foreign energy imports.
According to Xu, domestic natural gas production capacity from 2006 to 2010 was about 350 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year. Last year, China consumed about 100 bcm of the fuel and produced 90.8 bcm. CNPC accounted for 75 percent of this production.
CNOOC recently inked an agreement with the Tianjin Municipal Government to jointly build an LNG terminal in the port city. The project would include an LNG-receiving wharf and a processing station with an annual capacity of 3 million metric tons of LNG imported from the Middle East.
Over the last year, Sinopec and CNPC have begun making moves to catch up. Sinopec also plans to build an LNG terminal in Tianjin, and has obtained preliminary approval from the National Development and Reform Commission. In 2010, Sinopec’s broke ground on an LNG project in Shandong Province, its first LNG project implementation to date.
CNPC has invested nearly 10 billion yuan to build China’s biggest LNG terminal yet in northern China’s Dalian City. The 446-meter wharf, which includes a 150-meter trestle bridge, will be able to dock the largest LNG carrier in the world.
China’s business press carried the story above on Wednesday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
By Wu Nanlan