China, the world's second-biggest energy user, may increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Australia four-fold this year as power plants use gas to generate electricity to cut pollution, an official said.
Guangdong Dapeng LNG Co, China's only LNG import terminal, may import 2.6 million tonnes of the fuel this year, compared with 687,533 tonnes in 2006, said an official from the plant. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and BP plc own the terminal.
The US$900 million Guangdong Dapeng import facility gets most of its LNG from Australia's North West Shelf project, which has a contract to supply China an average of 3.3 million tonnes a year. China plans to build as many as six LNG terminals in the next three years to meet a target of expanding the share of energy produced from gas to 5.3per cent by 2010 from 3per cent now.
'The volume will ramp up over an agreed period before reaching the 3.3 million tonne-a-year plateau in around 2010,' Hannah Fitzhardinge, a spokeswoman for Woodside Petroleum Ltd, operator of North West Shelf, said in an e-mailed statement on July23.
China's LNG imports rose 45 per cent over the whole of 2006 to 1.02 million tonnes in the first six months of this year. In May and June, the nation supplemented shipments from Australia under a 25-year contract with spot purchases, paying twice the cost for a cargo from Oman, according to data from the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China.
The country paid US$8.30 per million British thermal units (mBtu) for the Oman cargo, compared with the US$164 a tonne, or US$3.15 per mBtu, for the Australian supplies. Guangdong Dapeng has room to process one spot cargo a month in addition to supplies from Australia.
China's appetite for spot purchases will depend on the price, said Andy Flower, a UK-based LNG consultant and a former executive at BP's LNG business.
The world's fastest-growing major economy has to compete for spot cargoes with Japan and South Korea, which paid as much as US$10 per mBtu for imports earlier this year, according to the countries' Customs data.
Guangdong Dapeng may have to turn to the spot market for additional supplies in the second half of the year after the company started a 1,050-megawatt power plant last week, the official said.
China's second LNG import terminal in Fujian province will be ready by the end of next year to receive the first cargo from Indonesia, China LNG Shipping (Holdings) Ltd general manager Yan Weiping said in March.
China National Offshore has a 25-year contract to buy LNG from the Tangguh project, a venture led by BP. CNOOC has a 17 per cent stake in the project.
Guangdong Dapeng LNG Co, China's only LNG import terminal, may import 2.6 million tonnes of the fuel this year, compared with 687,533 tonnes in 2006, said an official from the plant. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and BP plc own the terminal.
The US$900 million Guangdong Dapeng import facility gets most of its LNG from Australia's North West Shelf project, which has a contract to supply China an average of 3.3 million tonnes a year. China plans to build as many as six LNG terminals in the next three years to meet a target of expanding the share of energy produced from gas to 5.3per cent by 2010 from 3per cent now.
'The volume will ramp up over an agreed period before reaching the 3.3 million tonne-a-year plateau in around 2010,' Hannah Fitzhardinge, a spokeswoman for Woodside Petroleum Ltd, operator of North West Shelf, said in an e-mailed statement on July23.
China's LNG imports rose 45 per cent over the whole of 2006 to 1.02 million tonnes in the first six months of this year. In May and June, the nation supplemented shipments from Australia under a 25-year contract with spot purchases, paying twice the cost for a cargo from Oman, according to data from the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China.
The country paid US$8.30 per million British thermal units (mBtu) for the Oman cargo, compared with the US$164 a tonne, or US$3.15 per mBtu, for the Australian supplies. Guangdong Dapeng has room to process one spot cargo a month in addition to supplies from Australia.
China's appetite for spot purchases will depend on the price, said Andy Flower, a UK-based LNG consultant and a former executive at BP's LNG business.
The world's fastest-growing major economy has to compete for spot cargoes with Japan and South Korea, which paid as much as US$10 per mBtu for imports earlier this year, according to the countries' Customs data.
Guangdong Dapeng may have to turn to the spot market for additional supplies in the second half of the year after the company started a 1,050-megawatt power plant last week, the official said.
China's second LNG import terminal in Fujian province will be ready by the end of next year to receive the first cargo from Indonesia, China LNG Shipping (Holdings) Ltd general manager Yan Weiping said in March.
China National Offshore has a 25-year contract to buy LNG from the Tangguh project, a venture led by BP. CNOOC has a 17 per cent stake in the project.