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New discoveries and stabilisation of legacy fields’ output have helped China reverse the decline and be a top-five producer in recent years
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The strategic importance of vast untapped oil and gas reserves and key shipping routes has come in from the cold
Argentina makes progress on LNG dream
Eni is joining the first phase of the 30mt/yr ARGLNG, while consortium behind the smaller Southern Energy LNG has reached FID
Australia’s LNG flashpoint
Scapegoating foreign buyers will not solve country’s gas shortages
EU faces tough task following Japan LNG model
The bloc may find it very difficult to replicate Japan’s approach due to fundamental differences in policy and markets
Cheap gas key to unlocking new markets
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LNG faces promises and perils ahead
LNG has opportunities to expand in established markets and access new ones, but the sector’s outlook is also fraught with uncertainties, from political and regulatory difficulties to chokepoints, project delays and cost overruns, says the IGU
Do not underplay China’s long-term gas growth narrative
A subdued market amid global trade tensions is just an aberration in gas’ upward trajectory
China LNG
Graeme Bethune
18 December 2018
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China‘s hunger for LNG confounds all forecasts

The growth in China's LNG imports is fundamentally driven by government policy

The prospects for the LNG market have changed dramatically in the last two years as China has more than doubled its LNG imports, confounding all expectations. As recently as mid-2016 the outlook was all doom and gloom, with the International Energy Agency predicting the international market would be over-supplied and stricken with low prices until at least the end of the decade. However, prices have since been rising rather than falling. Average Chinese LNG import prices in September 2018 were US$9.89 per mmBtu, up by 37pc on prices in 2016. And it looks as though the trend will continue through 2019 as China chases its domestic clean-air goals, despite mistakes along the way. Last year over

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