Oil and gas company Cnooc offers one load per month from May through November. Sinopec is selling 45 shiploads of gas through October. Collectively, this concerns 4 percent of the amount of gas that China imported last year. Last year, the country was busy replenishing its stocks with a view to the winter and purchased a lot of gas to do so. However, winter has been mild so far and predictions are that it will remain so, leaving gas behind. By disposing of the future loads again at the current much higher prices, Cnooc and Sinopec can earn a lot of money.
The sale is also seen by some analysts as a sign that major gas suppliers expect energy demand in China to lag this year due to China’s strict corona policy. The country is trying to keep corona out of the door and is taking draconian measures, such as quarantining entire cities with a handful of infections. Goldman Sachs recently lowered its growth expectations for China after the omikron variant of the virus first surfaced there.
The price of a megawatt hour of gas on the leading Dutch market is currently 74 euros. In December, it peaked at almost 174 euros.
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