OREANDA-NEWS. December 12, 2014. China’s LNG imports continued their lull in October, potentially dampening the outlook for Chinese demand at a time when new liquefaction capacity in Australia and the United States is set to start up.

Chinese imports grew by 1.82% in October year on year to 1.38 mt, according to data from the country’s General Administration of Customs. Shipments were down slightly from 1.39 mt in September.

But while import volumes barely changed, their cost was up by a third from last year, rising from USD665 million to USD 885 million.

Meanwhile, pipeline inflows increased by 8.8% from last year to 1.99 mt, at a cost of \\$ USD 1 billion. October’s piped imports bring the year-to-date volume to 18.78 mt with the aggregate value hitting USD 9.47 billion, according to the data.

Turkmenistan remained the largest exporter of pipeline gas to China in October, but its deliveries fell by 20.8% year on year and 23.66% month on month, to 1.29 mt. The drop decreased the Central Asian nation’s share of piped imports from 85.75% in September to 64.84% in October.

Meanwhile, other pipeline suppliers ramped up their supplies sharply. Myanmar exported a record 437,993 tons – the biggest volume shipped from the country to date, representing 21.94% of total piped volumes – while imports from Uzbekistan jumped 34.9% year on year, to 240,379 tons.

Pipeline gas from Myanmar was the most expensive, at an average value of USD 11.66/MMBtu. Turkmen gas cost USD 9.35/MMBtu, Uzbek gas landed at USD 8.64/MMBtu, while imports from Kazakhstan were the cheapest at USD 3.39/MMBtu.

Qatar remained the largest LNG supplier to China in October, with 432,352 tons exported – a 4.83% increase from September. Qatari gas was also the most expensive, at USD 18.42/MMBtu. Australia was the second-largest LNG exporter on 258,133 tons, down by a third from September and costing USD 3.26/MMBtu.

Indonesian LNG landed at the Putian terminal in Fujian province at USD 10.06/MMBtu in October – a significant increase from the USD 3-4/MMBtu that China has paid for the past few years.

The price rise came into effect after China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) gave in to Jakarta’s demands for a new price formula that follows Asian crude costs more closely (see Lack of state aid for Tangguh LNG irks CNOOC, 28 November 2014).