The first LNG (liquefied natural gas) shipment to China from the lower 48 states arrived last week, marking the official entry of the US into the Asian LNG market. The shipment was chartered by Royal Dutch Shell and originated from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG facility in the Gulf of Mexico. The cargo was purchased by China National Offshore Corp as part of a long term contract, and was delivered to the Yantian Port near Hong Kong last week.
The Maran Gas Apollonia was the 19th cargo of LNG to load from the Sabine Pass export facility in the US Gulf of Mexico, but the first to reach northeast Asia since the first loading in February this year.
The cargo traversed the newly improved Panama Canal to reach China and was the first LNG tanker to transit the newly expanded canal. Improvements to the Panama Canal have allowed larger ships, once incapable of navigating the canal, to circumvent the trip around Cape Horn at the tip of South America and reach the Pacific Ocean through Panama.