China overtakes South Korea as No 2 LNG importer

China’s General Administration of Customs last month confirmed what liquefied natural gas industry insiders have been speculating for weeks: There’s a new No 2 in town.China imported 38.1mn tonnes of LNG in 2017, according to customs data released on January 23. That’s more than the 37.6mn tonnes that South Korea imported last year, according to customs data that country released the previous week. In 2016, South Korea imported 33.5mn tonnes to China’s 26.1mn, according to customs data. Japan, the world’s largest importer, had shipped in 72.3mn tonnes through the end of November, according to government data.China’s surge stems from President Xi Jinping’s efforts to clean the air in smoggy cities by replacing coal-burning furnaces with cleaner natural gas. The push resulted in winter gas shortages in parts of the country where infrastructure wasn’t prepared to handle the increased demand. Additional LNG buying has also inflated spot prices, which have more than doubled since June to $11.40 per millions British thermal units, according to industry publication World Gas Intelligence.Gas consumption in China is expected to continue its rise as the government still has room to improve air quality, Sanford C Bernstein & Co analysts including Neil Beveridge said in a January 18 research note. China could overtake Japan as the world’s No 1 LNG importer as soon as 2025, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts.