What would be China's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is reportedly on track to be completed, with the second phase of its expansion now in progress. Chinese oil and gas giant China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) announced that work on the re-gasification capacity expansion of the LNG receiving facility in Tianjin is now done.
The completion of the re-gasification capacity expansion work effectively increased the facility's capacity to 45 million cubic meters per day. This already included the newly added capacity of 30 million cubic meters, which went into full operation over the weekend.
According to Sinopec, the re-gasification capacity expansion work was completed 10 days ahead of schedule. This means that additional work can now be done, including the construction of new LNG storage tanks and new shipping docks.
Sinopec expects the facility in Tianjin to have an annual receiving capacity of 10.8 million metric tons and a supply capacity of 13.6 billion cubic meters once all the work in completed. This would effectively make it the largest LNG terminal in all of China.
The current holder of the title is the LNG terminal located in Shenzhen in the country's Guangdong province. The terminal, which is operated by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), has a total capacity of 4 million metric tons annually.
The accelerated work on the LNG terminal in Tianjin has been seen as a big success in China's efforts to enhance its natural gas supply. The terminal is also touted to greatly boost the overall LNG development in the country. Industry experts believe that the terminal will help secure gas supplies in the region, which has significantly grown its appetite for cleaner energy sources.
Mainly driven by its commitment use more environmentally-friendly energy sources, China has recently accelerated its clean energy efforts. This has caused rapid growth in overall consumption and imports of LNG. Last year, China imported around 54 million tons of LNG. Data from the General Administration of Customs show that China's LNG imports account for around 60 percent of the global LNG import total.
There has also been substantial growth in the number of regions shifting to LNG for residential heating purposes. Industrial use is also rapidly growing, indicating an acceleration of China's shift from coal to gas.
Apart from improving its receiving terminals, China had also recently established its new China-Russia east route natural gas pipeline. The pipeline officially went into operation this week and was designed to have an LNG transmission capacity of 38 billion cubic meters. This equates to about 13.6 percent of the country's total gas consumption last year.
