China will import more Russian LNG by 2025, says ambassador

China will increase its LNG imports from Russia this year, according to its ambassador in Russia.

"I can tell you that there are many buyers." "I think that there will be more (imports)", said Zhang Hanhui.

He told reporters there was also discussion between Russia and China about the proposed Power of Siberia-2 pipeline project, but that the route had not yet been defined.

Since years, Russia has sought an agreement with Beijing on the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline to transport 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from the Yamal Region in northern Russia through Mongolia to China.

However, to date, the parties are unable to reach an agreement on the conditions of gas delivery.

According to TASS, which cited Chinese Customs data, Russia’s LNG exports rose by 3.3% last year to 8,3 million metric tonnes.

The article said that Russia is, after Australia, Qatar and China, the world's biggest buyer of LNG. Malaysia and the United States also export a lot of LNG to China.

Last week, it was reported that Chinese LNG buyers are reselling U.S. cargoes because tit-fort-tat tariffs increase import costs.

Data from Kpler & LSEG shows that China did not import any U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) during the month of March. According to Chinese data, the U.S. supplied about 5% (or a little more) of China's LNG in 2013. (Reporting and writing by Olesya Astrakhova, Editing by Mark Trevelyan).

(source: Reuters)