A cargo of U.S. liquefied natural gas has arrived at a Chinese terminal for the first time since trade tensions between Washington and Beijing effectively halted direct shipments, vessel-tracking data showed, though it may never enter China as the terminal’s bonded storage facilities allow re-exports without import duties.
Carrying a cargo loaded in early June from U.S. energy firm Venture Global LNG’s Plaquemines export plant in Louisiana, the Al Fat’h LNG tanker arrived at the PipeChina Yangpu terminal in China’s southern island province of Hainan on July 15 to 16, according to vessel-tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa.
The shipment is the first U.S. LNG cargo to reach China since the Mu Lan discharged at Zhangzhou in February 2025, before retaliatory tariffs imposed by Beijing and Washington made such imports uneconomic.
However, the cargo’s arrival does not necessarily mean China will import the LNG, said Vortexa market analyst Florence Yu.
“Yangpu port has bonded LNG storage tanks as part of Hainan’s special customs operations strategy. These are actually China’s first LNG storage tanks approved for bonded operation, allowing LNG to be stored, traded, and re-exported without paying Chinese import duties,” she said.
“Chinese players have great flexibility under this condition. The cargo can be resold later for portfolio optimization or, if domestic supply becomes critical, it can still be imported into China after clearing customs.”
The tanker is controlled by QatarEnergy, which bought the cargo on a spot basis from Plaquemines for delivery to China, according to Kpler data.
China, the world’s largest LNG importer, has several bonded storage sites for LNG across the country, including at Tianjin and Zhoushan.
It had previously been a major buyer of U.S. LNG, with Chinese companies still holding long-term contracts to purchase U.S. supplies. But Chinese importers have been diverting these U.S.-sourced cargoes to buyers elsewhere, as the tariffs have raised import costs. China suspended a 24% additional tariff on U.S. goods for one year, but retained a base tariff of 10% imposed in November. Tariffs on U.S. energy products, including a 15% levy on LNG, also remain in place.
The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of LNG, shipping out 109 million tons of the fuel last year, according to Kpler data.
(Reporting by Emily Chow in Singapore, Scott DiSavino in New York and Sam Li in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)