PetroChina's Kunlun Energy reopens top LNG plant to meet winter demand

Kunlun Energy

25/10/2016 12:10

BEIJING, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Kunlun Energy Co Ltd  0135.HK  
has resumed or was in the process of resuming production at 
seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, including China's 
largest, to meet upcoming winter demand, its parent PetroChina 
 0857.HK  said on Tuesday.  
    The biggest plant, located in Huanggang in central Hubei 
province, was opened in 2014 and has a capacity of 5 million 
cubic metres per day. It was reopened earlier this month after a 
ten-month shutdown, according to a report carried on the website 
of China National Petroleum Corporation Corp  CNPET.UL , that 
state giant that is in turn parent of PetroChina.  
    The CNPC report gave no details on the reason for the 
shutdown. PetroChina said Kunlun has also started resuming 
operations at plants in Guangyuan, Guang'an, Zhaoqing, Renqiu, 
Bazhou and Ansai, mostly in southwestern Sichuan province and 
northern Shaanxi province.  
    Most of these plants process locally produced natural gas 
into LNG in areas not connected to a pipeline grid for transport 
by truck to places it can be used as a transport, industry or 
other fuel.  
    News of the restarts comes days after the government called 
on producers to ramp up natural gas output ahead of the winter 
to ensure plentiful supplies.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1CS056  
    Industry experts also expect major gas producers like 
PetroChina to start raising wholesale gas prices from next month 
under a government policy in late 2015 that allows a 10-20 
percent upward adjustment to non-residential users.  
    Kunlun is one of the country's largest players in onshore 
LNG facilities, having spent billions of dollars on a dozen LNG 
plants, mainly in the country's west and north, and building 
over 600 gas refuelling stations.  
    The company separately operates two multi-billion-dollar LNG 
import terminals on China's east coast.  
    Since around mid-2014 Kunlun was forced to shut several of 
its key LNG plants, including the Huanggang facility, as gas 
lost its relative competitiveness after a plunge in oil prices. 
It was not clear how long the plants were closed then.  
     
 
 (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Meng Meng; Additional reporting by 
Chen Aizhu; Editing by Tom Hogue) 
 ((Josephine.Mason@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 66271210; Reuters 
Messaging: josephine.mason.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: PETROCHINA LNG/KUNLUN