China Plans to Triple LNG Consumption in the Near Future

(Bloomberg) — China National Offshore Oil Corp. won government approval to build another liquefied natural gas terminal in southern China’s Shenzhen amid increasing demand for the cleaner-burning fuel.

The National Development and Reform Commission approved the project in June with designed receiving capacity of 4 million metric tons a year, NDRC said on its website today. The Diefu facility, 70 percent owned by China National Offshore and the remaining by Shenzhen Energy Corp., will comprise four LNG storage tanks each with 160,000 cubic meters of capacity.

China is planning to triple the use of gas by 2020 to about 10 percent of total consumption to cut reliance on more polluting coal and oil. LNG imports rose 29 percent in the first half of 2012 from a year earlier to 6.7 million tons, data from the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs showed.

China National Offshore already has an LNG terminal in operation at Shenzhen’s Dapeng bay as well as one each in Fujian and Shanghai. The company is building several more along the east and southern coast. The nation’s apparent natural-gas consumption increased 16 percent in the first six months from a year earlier, according to the NDRC.