OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2011. CNOOC Ltd will expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business to the whole industrial chain, Xing Yun, the chief geological engineer of the research center under the CNOOC Gas & Power Group Co., Ltd, told China Securities Journal.

CNOOC, the dominator in China’s LNG market, has completed the overall layout of LNG projects in the coastal area of southeast China. It is arranging and building LNG projects for many localities including Zhuhai, Ningbo and Hainan.

CNOOC, which lacks of upstream natural gas resource, mainly develops its natural gas business with imported LNG.

Apart from the LNG business itself, CNOOC is extending LNG’s downstream industrial chain, and entering the towngas sector in particular, the chief geological engineer said.

The downstream projects include investment and construction, gas-fuelled power plant, industrial dyes, natural chemicals, vehicle fuel, satellite stations and gas filling stations.

CNOOC had participated in the building of LNG-fuelled power plants as early as it introduced LNG into China, Xing added.

According to Xing, every downstream LNG project demands at least 3 million metric tons of LNG for its economy of scale, so the downstream market like LNG-fuelled power plant and towngas project are very important for the import of LNG.