US supplies give China muscle to become major force in global LNG trade

SINGAPORE/LONDON: Chinese firms are set to become a major trading force in the global liquefied natural gas market in coming years, thanks to liberalisations at home and recently signed long term contracts for record amounts of LNG from US suppliers.

Setting their sights beyond the domestic market, state-run Sinopec Corp, Sinochem Group, privately-controlled ENN Natural Gas Co and China Gas are building up trading teams from Beijing, Singapore to London.

China’s push into the international LNG market comes two decades after it made a similar big splash in oil trading, and will put its firms in competition with established players like Shell, TotalEnergies and Vitol.

Fortunately, the pie is growing. By 2027, analysts forecast spot trade in LNG will be $20 billion, more than double its 2020 value.

Last year, China’s imports soared by 18% to a record 79 million tonnes, overtaking Japan as the world’s largest LNG buyer. China’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was one factor, but the other was a pipeline reform that allowed more firms to become importers.

Felix Booth, Head of LNG at Vortexa, drew parallels with the way in which Japan’s largest LNG importer, JERA, evolved from “a large end-user to a powerful integrated portfolio player” over the past decade.

The size of the contracts signed with US suppliers should leave Chinese traders with ample amounts of LNG to trade on the global market, after meeting domestic demand, said one Beijing-based trader.

Late last year, Chinese firms nL4N2Q513J signed up over 10 million tonnes a year of LNG with US exporter Cheniere Energy and Venture Global nL1N2RG083, with supplies extending through the mid-2040s’ and provisions for flexibility in marketing destinations for the bulk of the purchases.