Page 14 - GLNG Week 45

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

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

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 13•November•2020