Examining China's LNG demand and its suppliers

In 2023, China surpassed Japan to once again became the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas. (In 2022, as our first chart shows, imports had declined significantly amid very high global prices – which then eased considerably in 2023.)

The momentum continued in the first half of 2024, with Chinese imports of LNG up about 14% year-on-year. Imports fell back slightly in June, reaching an 8-month low.

China has been connecting more households to its gas grid to lessen dependence on coal. The nation also tends to stabilize domestic prices by buying more gas on the international spot market when prices are cheap, and releasing those reserves from storage when gas is expensive.

Our second chart is a heat map tracking China's diversified list of LNG suppliers, which by extension shows the month-by-month dynamism in this market: export vessels often head to different destinations in Asia and Europe depending on local demand.

Australia is almost always the nation's biggest supplier, often accounting for almost half of China's LNG imports: in June, Australia shipped about three times as much gas to China as No. 2 Qatar. However, that gap has sometimes been much smaller. February 2023 saw the Persian Gulf emirate's shipments surpass those of Australia.

Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia are also consistent major suppliers; on occasion, the US has also exported significant volume to China.

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