PetroChina signs LNG deal with Malaysia’s Petronas

PETROCHINA International said it has signed a sales and purchase agreement with Malaysia’s Petronas to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The deal, signed on Apr 17, is the pair’s first medium-to-long-term LNG sales and purchase agreement, PetroChina said in a statement on Tuesday without providing further deal details.

Petronas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China was the world’s top LNG importer in 2021, shipping in 78.8 million tonnes of the super-chilled fuel. It was overtaken by Japan last year amid high spot prices and after stringent Covid-19 containment measures curbed economic activity and energy demand, with imports slipping to 63.4 million tonnes.

An executive at PetroChina, the listed arm of state-run China National Petroleum and China’s biggest gas importer, in March said China’s natural gas demand is likely to grow this year as the economy recovers, but that any import rebound would be dependent on spot prices. REUTERS