Lanqiao port has signed an agreement with state-owned Beijing Energy Holding to invest CNY6.7 billion (USD973 million) to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station. Lanqiao, China’s largest privately owned port is owned by an eponymous corporate group called Landbridge Holdings.
The LNG terminal will be able to load and discharge 5 million tonnes of LNG every year. Wood Mackenzie predicts that China will overtake Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer by 2022, with imports expected to reach 74 million tonnes, although disruptions to China’s LNG demand are expected as a result of lower consumption caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak early this year.
Lanqiao is in the Lanshan administrative region in Shandong Province, south of Rizhao. Built on reclaimed land, it began operating in 2009 and primarily handles dry bulk cargoes but also has an oil terminal.
Lanqiao port processed 80 million tonnes of cargo in 2018 and is projected to have handled 100 million tonnes in 2019. Landbridge is reportedly considering a public listing in order to finance its expansion.
Elsewhere, as part of China’s Belt and Road project, Landbridge is also developing a USD1 billion deep-water port and container terminal at Panama’s largest port at Margarita Island, having purchased the land in May 2016.
According to an agreement signed by Beijing Energy Group and Lanqiao Group, the two parties will also carry out in-depth co-operation in the development of overseas energy projects, the construction of industrial parks at home and abroad, and international trade in oil and gas.
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