China Passes South Korea as World’s No. 2 LNG Importer

The Gallina liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker sits docked after arriving at the National Grid Plc's Grain LNG plant on the Isle of Grain in Rochester, U.K., on Saturday, March 4, 2017. The shipment to England on the Gallina was priced using the U.K.'s National Balancing Point, where front-month gas cost about $7 a million British thermal units on Feb. 7.Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

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By Bloomberg News

January 23, 2018 at 7:25 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

China’s General Administration of Customs just confirmed what liquefied natural gas industry insiders have been speculating for weeks: There’s a new No. 2 in town.

China imported 38.1 million tons of LNG in 2017, according to customs data released Tuesday. That’s more than the 37.6 million tons that South Korea imported last year, according to customs data that country released last week. In 2016, South Korea imported 33.5 million tons to China’s 26.1 million, according to customs data. Japan, the world’s largest importer, had shipped in 72.3 million tons through the end of November, according to government data.