China’s CNOOC adding new tanks to expand Fujian LNG terminal

CNOOC is planning to increase the receiving capacity at the Fujian terminal to 6.3 million tonnes a year.  LNG World News photo.

BEIJING, May 3 (Reuters) – China’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer CNOOC has started building two storage tanks at a receiving terminal in Fujian province for the super-chilled fuel, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

The new tanks are part of a plan to increase the receiving capacity at the terminal in the southeast coastal province to 6.3 million tonnes a year, Xinhua said.

CNOOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the project to build the new tanks. It was not clear by when the two tanks would be completed and the capacity of the receiving terminal increased.

The tanks, each able to store 160,000 cubic meters of LNG, are part of the 24 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in LNG projects that the local Fujian government plans for the province to supply city gas to Fuzhou, Putian, Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou, as well as to power three power plants.

CNOOC imported 13 million tones of LNG last year, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the total intake in the world’s third-largest LNG importer.

CNOOC has built seven LNG terminals with a total capacity of 28 million tonnes a year in receiving capacity in China’s eastern and southern coastal regions.

($1 = 6.4762 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Kathy Chen and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Tom Hogue)