Petrochina, a subsidiary of Chinese state-run oil and gas company CNPC, has received a record amount of LNG at its three major LNG import terminals - namely Tangshan, Dalian and Rudong - during 2018. They reportedly handled more than 15 Mt/year combined: Rudong LNG alone received 85 vessels for a total of 6.5 Mt/year (8.8 bcm/year) throughout 2018 and now operates at full capacity, supplying 49% more LNG than in 2017.
Volumes handled by other operators' terminals were also on the rise: state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) reported that its Zhejiang LNG regasification terminal in Ningbo received 80 carriers in 2018 for a total of 5.47 Mt, which represents 52% more than in 2017.
Overall, Chinese LNG imports rose by nearly 44% to 47.5 Mt over the January-November 2018 period (compared with the same period of 2017).
China is implementing policies to progressively phase out coal-fired power generation and to replace coal with gas for power generation and residential heating purposes. This led the country to significantly boost LNG imports. The trend is likely to continue and China could overtake Japan and become the world's largest LNG importer.
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