China imported 4.9 million tons of liquefied natural gas last month, a slight increase on an annual basis, Bloomberg reported today, citing shipping data. The rebound comes ahead of a likely jump in electricity demand over the summer as air-conditioning demand rises.
The May figure is also a reversal of import trends from the previous few months, which booked a series of declines amid crimped supply from the Middle East that led to significantly higher prices, dampening importers’ appetite and greater use of coal for power generation. China’s April LNG imports were the lowest since 2018, Bloomberg noted in its report.
In that month, China imported just 3.5 million tons, down 30% on the year, data from Kpler showed last month. That was less than half the December 2025 total, reflecting the change in the supply context for liquefied gas.
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, according to data from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. As much as 80% of the liquefied natural gas produced in the Persian Gulf goes to Asian buyers.
Unlike other big Asian LNG importers, China is relatively insulated from major supply shocks thanks to its abundant pipeline gas supply—which is also cheaper than LNG—and its unshakeable reliance on coal despite its transformation into the world’s biggest solar and wind energy market.
According to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, if the war continues long enough, the LNG market will suffer structural damage. “If the conflict ended today, the world would recover in six months to a year. But if it lasts six months, those knee-jerk changes we are seeing could become structural,” the organization’s head warned last month.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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