China received 92 cargoe ships or 6.17 million tonnes of LNG in March, up 3.72% from the previous month, data from OilChem showed, primarily due to high demand during the heating season. However, the arrivals are projected to decline to 87 cargoe ships in April as the ending heating season will dampen downstream demand.
April Imported LNG Cargoes Schedule by Region
Separately, South China will see the highest arrivals, with 36 cargoe ships to arrive in April, due to increasing electricity demand from both industrial and residential sectors as the temperature warms up. North China and East China follows with an expected 30 and 20 cargoe ships respectively, and there will be just 1 LNG cargo ship to arrive in Northeast China.
By terminals, CNOOC Dapeng LNG terminal is expected to receive 9 cargoe ships in April, followed by PipeChina Beihai terminal, CNOOC Zhuhai Jinwan terminal, PipeChina Yuedong terminal and CNOOC Shenzhen Diefu terminal, each with about 5 cargoe ships.
April Imported LNG Cargoes Schedule by Terminal
Source: OilChem
However, North China and East China will both see a decrease in LNG arrivals due to the end of the heating season, mostly on long-term contracts.
On the other hand, there will be only 5 spot cargoe ships to arrive in April, remaining flat from the prior month, with deliveries into North China, East China and South China.
April Spot Imported LNG Cargoes Schedule by Terminal
Source: OilChem
Higher spot costs accounted for the fewer arrivals that led to meager profits. It was said that a small amount of spot cargoes were sold at $8.3/mmBtu, equivalent to a cost of Yuan 4,000-4,200/tonne, while domestic sales prices stood at Yuan 4,000/tonne, with poor profits left.
Written by Sunny Fang, fss@oilchem.net
Edited by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com