As reports surface that China has completely halted imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) for over ten weeks, the United Arab Emirates' state-owned oil company, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), has announced the establishment of an office in Beijing and the signing of three LNG agreements, including a 15-year LNG sales and purchase agreement with China's largest private energy company, ENN Group. This deal represents the largest LNG agreement in history between the UAE and a Chinese partner.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Beijing office will focus on the company's sales and marketing activities in China, with the aim of further deepening long-term commercial relationships with Chinese customers and partners.
Among the three LNG agreements is an LNG sales and purchase agreement signed with ENN LNG (Singapore) Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ENN Natural Gas Co., Ltd., one of China's largest private energy companies. The agreement is for a 15-year term, with an annual supply of 1 million tons of LNG from the Ruwais LNG project. This represents the largest LNG agreement ever between China and the UAE.
ENN Group has been engaged in the urban pipeline gas business since 1992, making it one of China's largest clean energy distributors. It currently operates 178 city gas projects in China, providing gas services to 17,299,000 households and 102,000 industrial and commercial enterprises, covering an urban population of 88.61 million.
The other two LNG agreements were signed by ADNOC's wholly-owned subsidiary, ADNOC Trading Company, with China National Offshore Oil Corporation Gas & Power Group Co., Ltd., and Zhenhua Oil Holdings Limited.
According to China Energy Network, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, ADNOC's Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, stated: 'We will seize this opportunity and leverage the newly signed LNG sales agreements to further explore the potential in all aspects of the energy industry chain with our Chinese partners, aiding China's energy security.'