Photo: China’s Sinopec gets first LNG cargo at its Tianjin terminal

Sinopec’s new Tianjin liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the north of China received its first-ever cargo of the fuel from Australia.

The cargo arrived on Tuesday from the Australia Pacific LNG project aboard the CESI Beihai tanker, Sinopec said in a statement.

The 174,000-cbm CESI Beihai is the third of six APLNG-dedicated vessels built at Chinese shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

The vessel will sail under a long-term charter contract to transport LNG that Sinopec bought from the APLNG project on Curtis Island to China. Sinopec holds a 25 percent equity stake in the LNG export project.

The LNG the CESI Beihai delivered to Tianjin will be regasified and supplied via pipeline to Beijing, Tianjin Hebei and Shandong areas, alleviating tight gas supply in the region, the statement said.

The first phase of the Tianjin LNG project has the capacity to receive some 3 million tonnes of LNG per year.

Chinese LNG imports have been rising steadily as the country is pursuing its plan to cut addiction to coal to reduce pollution.

The country’s imports of LNG surged 46 percent to 38.13 million tonnes in 2017.

LNG World News Staff