IN LATE August, Singapore’s Temasek-backed natural gas company Pavilion Energy bought a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from China’s state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) in a yuan-denominated transaction, according to the Shanghai-based trading platform SHPGX, which executed the deal.

The deal was Pavilion Energy’s first publicly reported purchase of LNG in yuan from a Chinese oil and gas major. It occurred against the backdrop of Beijing’s push to boost the role of the yuan to compete with the US dollar, and sought the support of a widening gamut of countries to do so.

Recently, Beijing’s efforts to bring more countries closer to its sphere of influence underpinned the expansion of Brics to include influential petrostates such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran. The G20 is also likely to move ahead soon with the proposed inclusion of the African Union, a region key to trade growth and supply of critical minerals for energy transition.