China will stop using floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) to handle LNG imports from the end of this year, when China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) hands back its Cape Ann unit to France's Engie. Floating units are generally seen as a relatively quick and easy way of opening up new markets, but CNOOC, the country's top LNG importer, says onshore regasification would be cheaper (p7). Cape Ann became the country's first FSRU in 2013 after CNOOC Gas & Power chartered it from Engie, which had itself chartered it from a grouping of Hoegh LNG, Mol and Tokyo LNG Tanker Co., but it has since been used only sporadically. Sources say it costs CNOOC more than $130,000 per day to charter the vessel, which is moored off Tianjin in northern China. Such high rates, coupled with lower gas prices in China after a cut in November, mean it has been losing money.
展开▼
