China’s Rising Re-selling of LNG Cargoes

China, the largest importer of LNG, is progressively boosting its resales of cargoes to other buyers in APAC to profit from price volatility, according to Reuters.

• China reloaded 617k mt of imported LNG from Jan-Nov, up from 576k mt in the same period in 2022. This made it the second-largest re-exporter after Spain. 27% of reloads have gone to South Korea.
• China has largely solidified its supplies through long-term contractual agreements with the US and Qatar and is ramping up its regasification capacity, expected to rise by 30%% in the next two year to 182m mtpa, according to CNOOC.
• Chinese companies are also trying to expand their trading activities, but still lag global majors such as Shell, BP, and Total.
• Disrupted supply in the region and pockets of demand have allowed China to capitalize on the supply glut to expand its trading.