Regional LNG: China's Guangdong to import 10 mtpa LNG from 2010: Report

The southern Chinese province of Guangdong will import 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum from 2010 to meet strong demand, a top industry official was quoted by Reuters as saying on Wednesday.

China is building its first LNG terminal in Guangdong, an industrial power house.

The first phase of the project will receive 3.7 million tons of the super-cooled, compressed natural gas per year from Australia when it is completed in 2005.

Fu Chengyu, president of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), which owns 33 percent of the Guangdong project, said construction of the second phase of the project had already started. BP has a 30 percent stake in the terminal.

"The second phase was originally planned to start 3 years after phase 1. But due to demand, it has started," Fu told a teleconference after its flagship subsidiary, CNOOC Ltd announced its first-half results. CNOOC Ltd is a China's dominant offshore oil and gas producer.

"Phase 2 is expected to commence in 2007. If you include phase 3, Guangdong alone will probably need 10 million ton per year of imported LNG by 2010," said Fu, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of CNOOC Ltd.

Energy-thirsty China is also building its second LNG terminal in Fujian, which will import gas from the BP-led Tangguh gas field in Indonesia.

China, which is planning several other terminals along its coast, aims to boost use of natural gas to 7 percent of its energy mix in 2010 from 3 percent.

The U.S. government Energy Information Agency estimated China's natural gas consumption would rise at a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent between 2002 and 2025.

"LNG imports will become an important source of China's energy in the future," Fu said. (*)