China's First Private Terminal Gets Maiden Cargo
Chinese private sector gas distribution firm ENN Energy’s Zhoushan terminal in Zhejiang province in eastern China received its first cargo August 7, it said August 8. The cargo came from Qatar.
The 3mn mt/yr (4.1bn m3/yr) Zhoushan LNG receiving terminal is the first large-scale privately-owned terminal approved by China's National Energy Administration. The project includes two 160,000 m3 tanks, one unloading dock for 266,000m3 LNG ships, along with other related infrastructure.
A second phase of the terminal is expected to be completed by 2021, hiking the capacity to 5mn mt/yr (6.9bn m3/yr), ENN said.
The Qatari cargo arrived on board the carrier Stena Blue Sky which was loaded with 145,000 m3 of LNG shipped from the Ras Laffan LNG complex and took 16 days to arrive. The regasified LNG will be mainly sold to the downstream market in eastern China, ENN said.
ENN has LNG sales and purchase agreements with Chevron, Origin Energy and Total - only the latter is a long-term contractual lifters from Qatar.
Image: Vessel Stena Blue Sky unloading at Zhoushan terminal (Credit: ENN)