Chinese Buyers Leave US LNG

Chinese buyers have avoided US LNG projects even before the tariffs hiked to 25%, said a report by  Rystad Energy.

Despite the Chinese tariffs, there is still appetite for US LNG from other countries. Since the first tariff of 10% was introduced on US LNG in September 2019, the US has signed about 18 million tpa worth of new export agreements with buyers globally.

Rystad Energy does not expect to see any new Chinese buyers of US volumes as long as the tariff is in force.

And that could be crucial for some US projects as the Chinese LNG market is experiencing the largest import growth globally, it said.

Since the tariff first 10% tariff was introduced in September, Chinese are shying away from investment in US projects, instead signing deals with Woodfibre (Canada), ExxonMobil, Mozambique LNG, Petronas, Total and Qatargas.

This comes in addition to CNOOC’s investment in Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 and PetroChina (PCCYF)’s investment in LNG Canada, it said.