China secures giant volumes of US LNG

In the last three months, Chinese buyers have contracted for some 130 million tonnes (Mt) of long-term US LNG. This sharp increase comes not only despite ongoing political tensions between the world powers, but also amid tight energy supplies globally and power shortages in China. Energy companies there have been urged to secure supplies ‘at all costs’, and evidently the ‘US-China relationship’ is no longer an obstacle to signing LNG deals. China needs the gas, and the US can provide it. Even with the 50 mmtpa of already sanctioned new global capacity in 2021, these sales agreements bring new US LNG projects closer to starting construction, put a focus on the LNG procurement strategies of Chinese buyers, and have significance also for US-China relations and the global energy transition, all of which points to a key question: are there more China-US deals to come?