Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 23 -- China’s National Development and Reform Commission has given approval for the planned 3.5 million tonne/year LNG regasification terminal in Zhuhai city in southern China.
China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Guandong Yudean Group, a state-owned electric power generation firm, will jointly fund the $1.65 billion project, which is scheduled to start operating in 2013. Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, said earlier that China, now with three operating LNG terminals, would expedite the construction of the Zhuhai terminal this year.
The announcement coincided with official reports that China's imports of LNG soared by 86.4% from a year earlier to 599,740 tonnes in March. That volume also was 26% greater than the country’s imports of LNG in February.
About 70% of the LNG imports were offloaded at Shenzhen, site of China's first LNG receiving terminal. The second terminal of Putian in Fuzhou received just one cargo, while the third terminal at Shanghai received 121,225 tonnes of LNG.
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