Natural gas demand is expected to rise to 199 billion cubic meters in 2016, Zhu Fang, head of market information department at the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association told Reuters after a media briefing by the association on Tuesday in Beijing.

"We are certain the Chinese economy will grow only slowly and that the yuan will depreciate in 2016," said a senior trader with a Shanghai-based fund. "The biggest uncertainty we have is how much the yuan will depreciate, which could revalue metals in China and affect our bets."

Dow e-minis were down 380 points, or 2.26 percent, with 99,258 contracts changing hands at 8:13 a.m. ET (1313 GMT). S&P 500 e-minis were down 45 points, or 2.27 percent, with 578,860 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 130.25 points, or 2.93 percent, on volume of 108,831 contracts.

Underground sites are slated to hold about 130 million barrels, which would account for nearly a quarter of the 550 million-barrel SPR target set by Beijing for 2020, according to local media and analysts.

CNPC said the entire pipeline project is expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2018. Construction of the Chinese section began in June 2015, while construction of the Russian section began in September 2014.

Beijing has indicated it could ultimately form a separate pipeline monopoly to encourage the development of China’s domestic natural gas industry which has so far been limited by CNPC’s stranglehold over the majority of the country’s pipeline network.

US oil major Chevron said on Tuesday it planned to sell up to 1m metric tonnes of LNG a year to China Huadian Green Energy from 2020, ensuring 80 per cent of gas from its Gorgon and Wheatstone projects is committed in long-term contracts.

OAO NOVATEK announced today the signing of binding definitive agreements as part of a transaction for selling an equity stake in the Yamal LNG project to China’s Silk Road Fund (“SRF”).

Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state oil giant, is seeking to borrow $4.7 billion from banks to refinance capital used to build a refinery in collaboration with China's Sinopec, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

By 2035 global energy consumption increases by 37% from today’s levels with virtually all (96%) the growth in non-OECD countries and more than half coming from India and China.