The 170,000m³ Hoegh Esperanza floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) has left China's Tianjin port to operate as an LNG tanker again, reducing the country's import capacity.
State-controlled owner CNOOC uses the vessel as an LNG carrier during low-demand periods, which cuts the Tinajin terminal's nominal import capacity to 2.2mn t/yr from around 6mn t/yr during peak demand months in the winter.
The firm reinstalled an FSRU at Tianjin in mid-November 2019, having been installed in November 2018 before operating as a carrier through summer last year. This suggests that China's import capacity could be cut by around 500,000 t/month through to the fourth quarter of 2020. The Hoegh Esperanza replaced the 145,000m³ GDF Suez Cape Ann FSRU, which left Tianjin in March 2018.
The Hoegh Esperanza left Tianjin on 17 April, and is declaring for arrival at Australia's Port Dampier — location of the 16.3mn t/yr North West Shelf (NWS) and 4.3mn t/yr Pluto liquefaction terminals — on 27 April.
CNOOC's three-year charter on the Hoegh Esperanza expires in June 2021, although the firm has an option to extend for another year. The vessel is then scheduled to begin operations at Australia's planned 4mn t/yr Crib Point import terminal from late 2021.
Fellow Chinese state-controlled firm Sinopec operates a 6mn t/yr onshore import terminal at Tianjin, where it is seeking to increase capacity to 10.8mn t/yr by 2023. And state-controlled Beijing Gas is planning to commission an import terminal at Tianjin — the 5mn t/yr Tianjin Nangang facility — at the end of 2022.
