Page 15 - AsianOil Week 46

AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil

Improving relations Kong, the South China Sea, Xinjiang, Tibet and
The Peterson Institute for International Eco- China’s religious and human rights situations,”
nomics (PIIE) reported this week that as of said a professor at Renmin University in Beijing,
September 2020, China’s imports of energy Shi Yinhong, who advises China’s State Council
products had reached $5.3bn so far this year, on foreign affairs, was quoted by the newspaper
far short of a year-to-date target of $15.4bn. as saying. “But Biden is not nearly as wild, vulgar
Separately, Panjiva, a unit of S&P Global Mar- and volatile as Trump, so he can be expected to
ket Intelligence, found that China’s imports bring more predictability and stability to Wash-
of US LNG totalled about $300mn during ington’s China policy.”
the first half of the year, accounting for only a This could boost the chances of Cheniere and
small amount of the country’s overall energy other US LNG exporters striking new long-term
purchases from the US. supply deals sooner rather than later. In particu-
China has nonetheless continued its effort to lar, Cheniere has been trying to finalise a deal
ramp up purchases, and the Foran deal indicates with Sinopec, which was first on the cards prior
that LNG trade is anticipated to grow. to the trade war breaking out but which subse-
Meanwhile, Beijing is also assessing what quently stalled. This was further complicated by
Joe Biden’s expected victory in the US presiden- the collapse in LNG prices recently, leading to
tial election – currently in the process of being Reuters reporting in January that as well as wait-
confirmed – will mean for relations between ing for trade relations to be restored between
the two countries. Early indications, according China and the US, Sinopec could seek to review
to the Financial Times, are that Beijing expects the terms of the deal. It had initially been valued
relations to be less volatile, but not to veer signif- at $16bn prior to the collapse of LNG spot prices.
icantly from the course taken by current Presi- Little has been said about this deal since, but
dent Donald Trump – at least not for some time. it is thought that Cheniere is continuing to pur-
Some Chinese state media outlets have sue it.
expressed cautious optimism about the poten- According to US government data, Cheniere
tial for US-China relations to be repaired under sent nine LNG cargoes to China between March
Biden, the Financial Times reported. But it and August 2020, after trade resumed. This
added that most advisers to Beijing believe ten- accounts for a small proportion of the compa-
sions – which brought US-China relations to ny’s overall trade, with Cheniere reporting in its
their lowest point in at least 40 years – will not be third-quarter results that it had sold 261 cargoes
resolved quickly. over January-September 2020. Even without a
“There will be no significant difference under new long-term deal, though, Cheniere’s ship-
Biden on major issues such as Taiwan, Hong ments to China seem set to rise.™

Week 46 19•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15