China’s Feb LNG imports rise YoY

China, the third-largest LNG importer in the world, boosted its imports of the chilled fuel in February by 12.1 percent, as compared to the same month a year before.

The world’s largest energy consumer imported 1.85 million mt of liquefied natural gas in February, according to the General Administration of Customs data.

Chinese yearly imports of LNG declined by 1.1 percent in 2015 to 19.63 million mt, for the first time since the country began importing chilled gas in 2006.

The country’s LNG imports have grown steadily in the last 10 years, from 0.1 Bcf/d in 2006 to 1.3 Bcf/d in 2010, and have more than doubled since then, the U.S. EIA said.

However, LNG imports dropped last year due to a slowdown in the growth of the Chinese economy and lower prices of competing fuels.

At the end of 2015, China had 13 LNG import terminals with a combined capacity of 5.4 Bcf/d, according to EIA.

LNG World News Staff