Reuters: Beijing Gas Starts Importing Spot LNG from French Utility

Beijing Gas Group becomes China's latest importer of liquefied natural gas outside dominant state energy firms, after the government permits third-party use of idle capacity at import terminals built mostly by the majors.

The Beijing firm, the dominant natural gas distributor to the Chinese capital that makes up some 9 percent of the country's gas use, is slated to receive its first import LNG cargo in late November, industry officials with knowledge of the matter said. LNG is gas super-chilled and shipped in tankers.

The 150,000 cubic-metre cargo will be sourced from French utility ENGIE, part of a cooperation agreement signed in July between Beijing Enterprises Holding Ltd, parent of Beijing Gas, and the French firm, they said.

Gas demand typically surges in winter in the 21-million-populated capital for heating homes and hotels. The metropoli is among the world's top gas users with annual consumption of 10.5 billion cubic metres, that also feeds power plants and buses.

An industry official with direct knowledge of Beijing Gas said the firm aims to become a longer-term LNG buyer with a plan to establish its own procurement team, beyond a traditional role of a middleman between Chinese energy producers and consumers. MORE