Home / Commodities / Freight News / Indonesia’s PGN says first gas shipment to China delayed amid virus outbreak

Indonesia’s PGN says first gas shipment to China delayed amid virus outbreak

Indonesian state gas utility PT Perusahaan Gas Negara’s (PGN) first shipment of liquefied natural gas to China has been delayed to around April from last month, company director Syahrial Mukhtar told reporters on Monday.

PGN signed a deal with China’s Sinopec Corp in November to supply LNG this year, with the first shipment expected in January. However Mukhtar said on Monday the shipment had not yet been carried out.

“(Chinese buyers) are freezing all contracts now,” he said, adding that the company expects to send its first LNG shipment to China in April.

Mukhtar said PGN is maintaining its target of exporting a total of six LNG cargoes this year despite the delay, with some bound for Europe.

Asia’s largest oil refiner Sinopec is cutting oil throughput this month by around 12%, its steepest reduction in over a decade, as the spread of coronavirus hits fuel demand and distribution, four people with knowledge of the matter said.

Meanwhile China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the country’s biggest importer of LNG, has suspended contracts with at least three suppliers, two sources said last week.

The death toll from the epidemic has risen to 908, all but two in mainland China, as of Sunday. The number of confirmed cases rose to 40,171 after over 3,000 new cases were reported in mainland China.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Recent Videos

Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and International Shipping