The thick smog that blankets many Chinese cities represents a vast commercial opportunity for emerging market suppliers of gas, a clean-burning fuel.
As pollution levels approached choking point this winter, China’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) surged 38 per cent – partly because of a deepening environmental consciousness and partly because temperatures plumbed 28-year lows, analysts said.
This rate of increase exceeded even the strong 25 per cent average annual increase in LNG imports seen over the past four years, suggesting a potential inflection point in Chinese demand, according to Point Carbon, a consultancy. Over the next four years, China could see as much as a quadrupling in LNG import volumes, it added. Last year, China imported 24.7bn cubic metres of gas in the form of LNG, 15 per cent of its total gas imports.