China's Gas Import Dependency to Increase
Despite a steady rise in domestic gas output in recent years, China’s reliance on imported gas, especially LNG, is expected to rise as domestic supply has remained well below demand, Sinopec News quoted Zhang Yuqing, former deputy director of the National Energy Administration (NEA) saying.
China’s import dependence in 2017 was 39% which is expected to cross 40% this year, he said. According to government data, China used 239.4bn m³ last year, 14.71% more than in 2016; while output was 147.4bn m3, 7.72% more than in 2016.
With the rapid development of China's social economy and the replacement of coal with gas in northern China, the gap in demand and supply has continued to widen. According to Sinopec News, China’s demand growth has been running at an average 14.5%/yr between 2004 and 2017.
China imports gas via pipeline, mostly from central Asia, and as LNG. According to Zhang, geopolitical and logistical issues make the building of long-distance pipelines challenging compared with LNG. Zhang said that the continuous increase in LNG imports will bring new opportunities for development in China's LNG industry. China should further increase the construction of LNG terminals and storage and transportation facilities to meet the requirements of LNG transmission and unloading, he said.
China's 2017 LNG imports were a record 38.13mn mt, up over 46% on year, according to the Chinese customs department, which meant that China edged ahead of South Korea to become the world's second largest LNG importing nation after Japan.