China Halts U.S. LNG Imports Amid Tariff War

China hasn’t imported liquefied natural gas from the United States since early February, as the tariff war hit energy trade and could have long-term consequences for U.S. LNG export contracts.

The last LNG cargo to arrive in China from America was a tanker from Corpus Christi, which docked in the southern Chinese province of Fujian on February 6, according to shipping data cited by the Financial Times.

The Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods, including energy products, and the broader trade war between the world’s two biggest economies could have long-term consequences on the ability of new U.S. LNG export projects to attract anchor offtake commitments, analysts warn.

“I do not think Chinese LNG importers will ever contract any new US LNG,” Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a gas specialist at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told FT.

Since the U.S.-China trade war escalated, China’s LNG buyers have been reselling the cargoes they are buying from the U.S. as Chinese tariffs on American goods are raising the costs of U.S. LNG imports.

LNG import demand in China has been weaker this year amid comfortably full winter inventories. Chinese LNG imports are expected to drop this year, according to the latest estimates from BloombergNEF. China is set to see the first annual decline in LNG imports since 2022.

The trade war and the new tariffs on U.S. LNG are driving major Chinese LNG buyers to stop imports from the United States and resell the cargoes they have already bought or contracted.

Following the tariffs, Chinese LNG buyers with long-term supply contracts with U.S. producers have started reselling the cargoes to Europe, Bloomberg reported, citing trading sources. What’s more, Chinese traders have grown cold towards new long-term commitments for future supply from the United States, instead seeking long-term deals with gas producers in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com

• Turkey, Pakistan To Explore World’s Fourth Largest Oil & Gas Reservoir
• Here’s What’s In The New Rough Draft U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal
• China Rejects Russia’s Eastern Pipeline Plan