Sinopec Corp pledged on Tuesday to maximise domestic gas productions and raise imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to record rates as a cold spell hitting large parts of the country this week lifts demand for the winter heating fuel.
On Monday China’s central economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) urged companies to step up imports of natural gas and thermal coal as temperatures are set to fall sharply.
Sinopec, already Asia’s top spot importer of LNG via a string of tenders ahead of winter, said on its micro blog its LNG imports into receiving terminals in north China’s Tianjin and east China’s Qingdao will reach new highs in January, without giving a volume.
The company will also increase domestic natural gas production by another one million cubic meters a day by the end of January by accelerating the drilling of new development wells.
It’s also maximising extracting gas from its underground storage in central and east China, while maintaining high inventories at LNG storage tanks, the company said.
