As an update to a previous article, Reuters are reporting that China's state-owned energy company CNOOC diverted two cargoes of imported LNG after a pipeline fire in northern China's Tianjin, though imports were normal as of 9 January.
Chinese state energy firms have promised to boost supplies of cleaner-burning LNG over the winter months to help curb the use of the coal burned widely in northern parts of the country for heating, a main cause of hazardous smog.
Disruption to the pipeline system, which normally meets nearly half of peak winter demand of 15 million m3/day, comes at a bad time for CNOOC given the cold snap fuelling gas burn in northern China.