China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) have entered into a strategic cooperation framework agreement, CEEC has told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The document was signed in Beijing on 7 January by Wu Yun, deputy general manager of CEEC, and Li Qingtang, deputy general manager of CNNC.

China's LNG growth rate has almost halved to 27pc for 2018-19 and the signs are that growth is continuing to decelerate.

Gas consumption this year is seen exceeding 300 bcm, up 9% from 2018, Jiang Xuefeng, vice chairman at CNPC’s Economics and Technology Research Institute (ETRI), said at a briefing in Beijing on Thursday.

China on Monday set up a new centrally-administered state-owned enterprise (SOE), the China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corporation.

China imported 45.74 million tonnes of crude, equivalent to 11.13 million barrels per day (bpd),

In November, China imported 20.78 million mt of coal, up 8.5% year on year, the GAC data showed.

Russia has begun gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, the largest gas project in its history and a symbol of Moscow’s diplomatic pivot towards Beijing at a time of worsening relations with the west.

The relaxing of curbs on coal power, combined with shrinking investment in solar and wind energy, have caused further alarm over carbon dioxide emissions in China.

The ‘Power of Siberia’ pipeline, due to open on Dec. 2, will pipe natural gas around 3,000 km (1,865 miles) from Russia’s Siberian fields to the fading industrial region, which has lagged the push to gas in China’s south and east.

“Since coal is still a major resource, we will continue to rely on coal when we need it - and right now for instance, the economy is slowing and renewables are still relatively weak,” said Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Institute for Energy Policy Studies.