China continues to witness weak demand for liquefied natural gas and its LNG imports in April are estimated to be 20% lower than the volumes imported in the same month last year, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing data from analytics firm Kpler.
LNG import demand in China has been weaker this year amid comfortably full winter inventories. Chinese LNG imports are expected to drop in 2025, according to the latest estimates from BloombergNEF. China is set to see this year the first annual decline in LNG imports since 2022.
So far in 2025, Chinese LNG imports have been trending about 20% lower compared to year-ago levels. This is expected to continue in April, expected to be the sixth consecutive month in which China’s LNG imports will have dropped from the same month of the previous year, according to Kpler, which tracks vessels.
China’s LNG imports have been lower than year-ago levels, but pipeline deliveries from Russia have remained strong, while domestic natural gas output has also increased in recent years.
China has also stopped buying LNG from the United States after President Donald Trump renewed the U.S.-China trade war.
The new tariffs on U.S. LNG are driving major Chinese LNG buyers to stop imports from the United States and resell the cargoes they have already bought or contracted.
Chinese traders have also grown cold towards new long-term commitments for future supply from the United States, instead seeking long-term deals with gas producers in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.
Earlier this week, privately held Chinese firm ENN Natural Gas signed a 15-year deal to source LNG from ADNOC’s new liquefied natural gas export project, in the biggest agreement between China and the United Arab Emirates on LNG supply so far.
China’s lower LNG imports compared to last year’s levels are a boon for Europe which needs a lot more LNG cargoes this year to refill gas storage sites ahead of next winter.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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