CHINA could more than quadruple imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the six years through 2015 because of increased consumption of the cleaner-burning fuel, said an official from the nation s only builder of LNG vessels.
Imports could rise to 25 million tons a year as the nation s energy demand was climbing, Shen Ning, deputy director of business and marketing at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., said in an interview in Shanghai on Thursday. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding has built all of the nation s LNG tankers.
China s LNG imports surged 66 percent to 5.5 million tons last year from a year earlier. The country wants to triple the use of gas to about 10 percent of energy consumption by 2020.
The shipbuilding company, a unit of China State Shipbuilding Corp., had delivered five LNG vessels to transport the fuel to domestic terminals and was building another 145,000 cubic-meter LNG tanker, Shen said.
The company was developing its third shipyard on Changxing Island in Shanghai, which would more than double its LNG vessel building capacity from three vessels a year currently, he said. The facility would be completed in 2012, he said. (SD-Agencies)
