The maturity of the traded LNG market will be tested if China goes ahead with plans to impose a retaliatory 25pc tarif on imports of US LNG. And it may shift billions of dollars of investment away from the US. But it might not matter much for LNG prices, at least in the near term. The proposal - part of Beijing’s response to Washington’s plan for a third tranche of tarifs on Chinese imports - has already had a chilling efect. At least one Chinese LNG importer is not buying US supply because it might cost 25pc more by the time the cargo arrives. And the tarifs could also create a headache for China’s state-owned CNPC, which has two long-term oftake agreements with US LNG exporter Cheniere Energy for a combined 1.2mn t/yr until 2043.
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