20 April 2024
China LNG – Part one: Will rampant demand continue to mop up new supply?
Publication date: 30 May 2018
Gas Strategies Group
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China’s LNG imports grew by 46% in 2017, having grown by a third in 2016, making it the world’s second-largest importer, usurping South Korea. As a result, China accounted for almost half of last year’s global LNG demand growth, causing the long-anticipated supply glut to be “conspicuous by its absence”.
The question now is whether Chinese growth on this scale can continue, just as new liquefaction trains around the world start up, while those that have recently started up continue ramping up output, and numerous new projects aspire to soon take a final investment decision (FID).
In the first of a two-part series, LNG Business Review looks at the factors that have been driving demand growth in China and their current status, while Part Two will focus on the constraints China faces and how much of a challenge they represent to LNG import growth.