China LNG buyers expand trading after adding more US, Qatari contracts

China LNG buyers expand trading after adding more US, Qatari contracts

SINGAPORE/LONDON - China's liquefied natural (LNG) gas importers are starting up or expanding trading desks in London and Singapore to better manage their growing and diversified supply portfolios in an increasingly volatile global market.

The beefed-up trading presence of Chinese importers puts them in direct competition with such global heavyweights as Shell, BP, Equinor and TotalEnergies for a market that the International Energy Agency says doubled in value to $450 billion last year.

About a dozen Chinese companies have been expanding trading teams or adding new desks, with privately run ENN Natural Gas and state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) the latest to plan London offices, and utility China Gas Holdings setting up a Singapore operation, company officials and traders said.

Chinese gas importers have also boosted long-term LNG contracts with Qatar and U.S. suppliers by nearly 50% since late 2022 to more than 40 million metric tons per year (mtpy), with plans to add more volumes from those two countries, as well as from Oman, Canada and Mozambique, traders and analysts said.

"We're going to see a paradigm shift in Chinese companies from being total net importers to (being) more international and domestic trading players," said Toby Copson, Shanghai-based head of global