SCI View: China NG Import Finding Summer Edges in April
According to China’s General Administration of Custom’s latest released data, China’s natural gas imports in April 2021, including piped gas import and LNG import, surpassed 10 million tons, the highest record in summer history and the third high in all history.
The import volume made significant jumps by 16.26% M-O-M and 31.34% Y-O-Y. The accumulative import volume of 2021 has reached 39.46 million tons, up 7.22 million tons or 22.40% Y-O-Y. China’s natural gas buying appetite reached an extraordinary high in April. On the one hand, after a peaking withdrawal season in the past winter which reached 11.9 bcm estimated by SCI, China’s NOCs paid great interest in inventory recovery and procurement. Sinopec, CNOOC and CNPC all increased the purchase under PipeChina’s urges, while most UGS facilities completed the trans-season maintenance quickly and entered input season from March. On the other hand, 2-tier buyers were also motivated to utilize their rented import slots when the spot price was favorable. As for the PNG import, Russian gas imports maintained at highs after a week of maintenance at the beginning of April, also helping China’s total import to create a new summer record. Essentially, China’s good performance in the national economy and the thriving LNG fuel demand under the pressure of GB VI diesel standard upgrade fundamentally provided strong support for the further growth of the import in April.
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