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China LNG sellers face fight to win back buyers

Chinese energy consumers will need to be persuaded that they can rely on domestic LNG supplies after a price shock last winter made the fuel unaffordable Chinese energy consumers will need to be persuaded that they can rely on domestic LNG supplies after a price shock last winter made the fuel unaffordable.
By Colin Shek 8 May 2018 0 30745
A convoy of tanker trucks hauling LNG from Guanghui’s plants A convoy of tanker trucks hauling LNG from Guanghui’s plants. (Guanghui Energy)

China’s LNG suppliers are facing a struggle to win back industrial consumers who were left in the lurch last winter by a major price shock that made the fuel largely unaffordable and forced some gas users to switch back to coal or LPG.

Chinese bureaucrats botched a conversion from coal to gas in northern China last winter by switching too many users at once. This caused a gas shortage once seasonal heating demand began to increase.

This drove a spike in LNG demand as new gas users...