China's appetite for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has not slowed, but its purchases have been spread more evenly, avoiding last year's sudden spike to meet winter demand, Australia's top independent LNG producer said on Tuesday.
LNG demand from North Asia's main hubs in Japan, China and South Korea has slowed in recent weeks, raising concern that forecasts for a milder than usual winter may dent consumption. There are also signs that the ongoing Sino-American trade war is starting to dent industry in China.
"We're not seeing a slowdown," Woodside Petroleum Chief Executive Peter Coleman said. "China learned from last year, from the last winter, that the peakiness in demand in the market really distorted the market. It distorted prices, and it meant they were not able to get gas to consumers in China during the peak of winter."
He said China has flattened that demand by buying across the year, while the volume overall has grown. "So the total is increasing, but the peakiness has gone out of it," Coleman told reporters after speaking at the Melbourne Mining Club.
Woodside sells most of its LNG to customers in Japan and South Korea but has a tie-up with privately owned ENN Group to boost sales in China. Coleman said Chinese demand for cargoes for delivery in February would be the real measure of how prepared the system is for winter. Those cargoes would need to be bought in December.
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