China’s imports of liquefied natural gas are on the mend, with the 30-day moving average rising to the highest level since late February, Bloomberg reported today, citing shipping data.
The number is below the five-year average, the publication noted, but higher than it was in April, when China’s LNG imports fell to the lowest in eight years, according to figures from Kpler. At the end of April, Kpler forecast China’s LNG imports would average 3.5 million tons, which would be a 30% drop from a year ago and the lowest since 2018.
The war in the Middle East took out a quarter of global LNG capacity, pushing prices significantly higher, pricing poorer importers out of the market. As a result, overall Asian imports of liquefied gas dropped in March to the lowest in seven years, by 4.3% on the year, to 21.12 million tons. The data comes from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
China used to receive almost a third of its liquefied natural gas from Qatar until this March, but the Gulf state had to declare force majeure on exports of the commodity after Iranian strikes on its production and processing infrastructure. The declaration opened a gap in global supply that other producers have found difficult to fill.
The country has switched to alternatives such as coal, wind, and solar, but now energy importers are also looking to ramp up LNG purchases in anticipation of a rise in demand for air conditioning in the summer, Bloomberg noted in its report. As a result, prices have spiked, with the benchmark for trucked LNG gaining 70% since the start of March and currently standing at the highest since 2023, per Argus Media data cited by Bloomberg.
This makes LNG on the international spot market cheaper, giving importers an incentive to buy more.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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