Factbox: China's incumbent and upcoming LNG traders

China Gas Holdings

21/08/2023 04:50

By Chen Aizhu
       SINGAPORE, Aug 21 (Reuters) - China's liquefied natural
(LNG) gas importers are starting up or expanding trading desks
in London and Singapore to better manage their growing supply
portfolios in an increasingly volatile global market that
doubled in value last year. 
    Below is a list of China's main gas traders and their
operations globally, according to information from company
sources and traders. 
    
    PetroChina International (PCI) 
    PCI, a unit of state-owned PetroChina  0857.HK , is China's
largest portfolio player of piped gas and LNG, with nearly 100
people including traders, origination and operations personnel,
and market analysts staffing trading desks in Beijing,
Singapore, London, Dubai and Houston. 
    PCI is also the most internationalized Chinese trader, with
non-Chinese making up about two-thirds of its 17-strong London
team, including Senior Vice President Keith Martin, previously
an executive with German utility Uniper  UN01.DE  and Russian
gas giant Gazprom  GAZP.MM . 
    In May, PCI became the first Chinese firm to gain long-term
access to gas storage at a European gas terminal. 
    
    Unipec
    The trading arm of Sinopec  600028.SS  has LNG teams in
Beijing, Singapore and London. Its London operation has five
staff led by Wang Bingsi, a Unipec veteran and also managing
director of Unipec London, with near-term plans to add a trader
to focus on the European piped gas market.
    
    CNOOC
    CNOOC's gas trading team - part of the gas and power unit of
 China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC)  SASACY.UL ,
China's first LNG importer and largest by far - is handled via
Beijing and Singapore. 
    CNOOC also plans to create a London desk in the coming year
or two, following PCI and Unipec. 
    
    Sinochem  SASADA.UL 
    The seasoned state oil and chemicals trader started its gas
trading desk in Beijing in early 2021 and inked its first
long-term LNG purchase deal with U.S. exporter Cheniere  LNG.A 
that year. The contract allows Sinochem to expand trading to
London.
    
        Zhenhua Oil
    The subsidiary of state defence giant Norinco started a gas
desk in Beijing in 2018 to invest in an LNG terminal and trade
the fuel. It owns 34% of a terminal with a capacity of 3 million
metric tons a year that is being built in Jiangsu province. 

    ENN 
    ENN Natural Gas Co  600803.SS , a subsidiary of ENN Group,
is China's first private operator of a major receiving terminal.
It's also by far the largest portfolio player among the Chinese
city-gas distributors with contracts to take more than 7 million
tons of U.S. LNG a year. 
    Its trading arm, headquartered in Hebei province in northern
China with offices in Shenzhen city in the south and in
Singapore, hired ex-senior traders from CNOOC, Sinopec and
trading house Trafigura  TRAFGF.UL 
    ENN has also recently started hunting for its first trader
for its planned London desk. 
        
    Beijing Gas
    A piped-gas distributor with a monopoly to supply the
Chinese capital, Beijing Gas has over the past five years built
a Singapore-based trading desk of 12 people, with plans to add a
derivatives trader and an operations manager. 
    
    Zhejiang Energy
    Zhejiang Energy, a state-owned utility backed by the
Zhejiang provincial government, secured a 20-year LNG contract
with Exxon Mobil in 2019 and more recently sealed a second
20-year contract with Mexico Pacific. 
    It operates a trading desk in Singapore, and also owns part
of a CNOOC-controlled import terminal in Ningbo and has a
controlling stake in another terminal in Wenzhou. Both terminals
are in Zhejiang province. 

    China Gas Holding  0384.HK 
    China Gas, one of China's largest privately controlled
piped-gas distributors, is starting up a Singapore office with
two traders. 
    It owns a minority stake in a Beihai regasification terminal
in Guangxi province and another in a terminal being built in
Yantai of Shandong province. China Gas has signed contracts to
take 3.7 million tons of U.S. LNG a year starting in 2026. 
        
  
    JOVO Energy  605090.SS 
    Privately controlled JOVO Energy owns a 1.5 million
ton-per-year import terminal in southern Guangdong province and
has trading operations in Guangzhou and Singapore. 
    
        JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA 
    Other Asia gas importers are also expanding global
operations. 
    JERA, Japan's largest LNG importer, and trading houses
Mitsubishi Corp  8058.T  and Marubeni Corp  8002.T , already
have trading operations in London, while Tokyo Gas  9531.T  and
South Korea's SK E&S  SKENS.UL  recently set up offices there. 
    Sumitomo Corp  8053.T , which has a desk to trade piped gas
in London is considering expanding into LNG trading, said a
company spokesperson. 

 (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi
in Tokyo; Editing by Florence Tan and Tom Hogue)
 ((aizhu.chen@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
aizhu.chen.reuters.com@reuters.net))