BEIJING: China used just over half its LNG regasification capacity in 2014, as tariff hikes and cheaper competing fuels hit gas demand growth, according to an Interfax analysis of customs data.
Ten of China’s 12 operational LNG terminals were online for the full year and they used an average of 55% of their capacity, based on total imports of 19.5 mt. China’s regasification capacity is around 35 mtpa. The average cost of the fuel it imports went up by nearly 30% last year.
This is lower than the 67.2% achieved in 2013 when seven terminals were operational, and indicates that, although China’s regasification capacity has expanded, the country is struggling to make full use of it.
One expert played down the decline in operating rate. “It is not strange that the average operational rate in 2014 dropped,” said Wang Zimeng, an analyst with commodities consultancy Sublime China Information. “The expansion of China’s gas supply infrastructure has outpaced the development of gas utilisation.”
