CNOOC trucks LNG to northern China as winter demand surges

CNOOC, the Chinese state-owned oil and gas producer, has hired 100 trucks to move liquefied natural gas (LNG) some 2,200km from the south of the country to its northern parts due to a winter fuel crunch.

China’s LNG imports surged this year boosted by a government-led switch from coal to natural gas for heating of millions of households in the northeast regions.

The trucks will transport LNG from CNOOC’s receiving terminals located in the south, such as the Zhuhai and Yuedong facilities in Guangdong province, CNOOC said in a statement posted on the official website of China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

CNOOC said its Tianjin LNG terminal near Beijing, the company’s only such a facility in the north of the country, is already operating at full capacity.

The number of trucks delivering the fuel is expected to reach 17 vehicles per day, according to the statement.

Delivering LNG via trucks for such a long distance could turn out to be very costly for CNOOC.

According to a report by Reuters, a delivery by a diesel truck able to transport 20 tonnes of LNG travelling 2,400 kilometres from Zhuhai to Baoding would take about two days and cost about 50,400 yuan ($76,267.72).

That is almost a third of the value of a 20-tonne cargo of LNG cargo, based on offer prices of 9,000 yuan per tonne on Friday, the report said.

LNG World News Staff