U.S. - CHINA LNG

REUTERS- China's top state oil major Sinopec, one of the country's top banks and its sovereign wealth fund have agreed to help develop Alaska's liquefied natural gas sector as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit, the U.S. government said on Thursday.

Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), the State of Alaska, Sinopec, China Investment Corp and the Bank of China have signed an agreement to advance (LNG) in Alaska, the U.S. government said in an email.

The agreement will involve investment of up to $43 billion, create up to 12,000 U.S. jobs during construction, reduce the trade deficit between the United States and Asia by $10 billion a year, and give China clean energy, it said.

There were no other details.

AGDC is building a gas treatment plant, an 800-mile (1,287 km) pipeline to south central Alaska for in-state use, and a liquefaction plant in Nikiski to produce up to 20 million tons of LNG per year for export.

China, the world's third-largest gas buyer, is importing more LNG as the government tries to wean the country off dirty coal as part of its push to clear the skies, while the United States wants to sell more of its excess gas abroad.

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Earlier:

2017, November, 3, 12:15:00 SOUTH CHINA SEA LNG The South China Sea is a major route for liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, and in 2016, almost 40% of global LNG trade, or about 4.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), passed through the South China Sea.

2017, October, 18, 18:40:00 U.S. LNG RISK There are more than a dozen LNG export projects currently being proposed to US regulators, though across the industry almost no final investment decisions have been announced over the last 18 months and some developers have delayed their decisions into 2018 or beyond. Few firm supply purchase agreements have been announced for the projects that have yet to commit to moving forward.

2017, October, 16, 12:10:00 CHINA LNG UP 44% China bought 22.1 million tonnes, equivalent to 30 bcm, of foreign LNG in the first eight months of the year, up 44 percent from a year ago. Almost half of that came from Australia followed by Qatar.

2017, September, 8, 08:45:00 CHINA'S LNG IMPORTS UP 45% Over the first seven months of 2017, China's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) averaged 4.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), or 45% higher than during the same period in 2016. With the exception of a slight decline in 2015, LNG import into China have grown steadily over the last decade, increasing by 33% between 2015 and 2016. LNG imports growth has been supported by both government policies to replace some coal and oil use with natural gas as well as lower natural gas import prices.

2017, August, 14, 14:05:00 U.S. GAS EXPORTS WILL UP The U.S. will export more natural gas than it imports in 2017. The United States has been a net exporter for three of the past four months and is expected to continue to export more natural gas than it imports for the rest of 2017 and throughout 2018. The United States’ status as a net exporter is expected to continue past 2018 because of growing U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico, declining pipeline imports from Canada, and increasing exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

2017, July, 19, 14:55:00 U.S. GLOBAL LEADERSHIP While US demand for gas is rising because of higher industrial consumption, more than half of the production increase will be used for LNG for export. By 2022, IEA estimates that the US will be on course to challenge Australia and Qatar for global leadership among LNG exporters.

2017, May, 15, 12:40:00 U.S. LNG TO CHINA The United States welcomes China, as well as any of our trading partners, to receive imports of LNG from the United States. The United States treats China no less favorably than other non-FTA trade partners with regard to LNG export authorizations. Companies from China may proceed at any time to negotiate all types of contractual arrangement with U.S. LNG exporters, including long-term contracts, subject to the commercial considerations of the parties. As of April 25, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy had authorized 19.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exports to non-FTA countries.