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China power company GCL restores LNG ambition after solar spin-off

Privatelyrun Chinese power business GCL Holdings is rebuilding a gas business after unloading numerous solar setups to establish gas import capacity and a trading operation, business executives told .

If successful, GCL would sign up with so-called tier-two liquefied natural gas (LNG) gamers in China such as city-gas companies ENN and Beijing Gas Group that goal to increase imports of the super-chilled fuel together with state majors to satisfy growing need from the world's leading energy user.

GCL's go back to gas after a number of years comes as international spot LNG rates << LNG-AS > have actually fallen to near three-year lows on growing supply, and as demand is set to broaden in China, which reclaimed its title as the world's top LNG buyer last year.

The group's Hong Kong-listed unit GCL New Energy Holdings last month employed Xiong Xin, former vice president of ENN Gas, as head of gas trading to lead a team based in Beijing that will broaden to about 20 by year-end, company executives informed .

Xiong, who began his LNG career at state major CNOOC, will also head a brand-new gas trading arm in Singapore that will have about 5 staff in the coming months, said Xu Huilin, GCL New Energy's executive president.

Information of GCL's restored push into the gas business have not previously been reported.

As soon as China's biggest privately-controlled solar energy manufacturer, GCL entered the gas service about a years earlier and had rights to check out for hydrocarbons in Ethiopia. By 2018 it had plans to invest billions of dollars to develop five LNG receiving terminals along China's coast.

Deep financial obligation at its solar power producing unit, injured by industry-wide overcapacity and Beijing's phase-out of subsidies, hobbled its gas aspirations, Xu stated.

China, the world's biggest solar energy operator and maker, deals with a massive capacity overhang that has hit worldwide solar material and equipment costs and triggered international discarding concerns.

GCL offered all 220 of its solar stations amounting to 7.15 gigawatts, primarily to state energies, raising around 23.5 billion yuan ($ 3.25 billion) by the end of 2023, a business media authorities stated.

The group still offers management and maintenance for solar farms and has a rewarding silicon production company, Xu stated.

The spin-off of the heavy solar downstream assets has made it possible for the group's tactical shift back to the gas company, stated Xu, formerly a vice president at state-run Sinochem Oil, who joined GCL last June.

LNG TERMINALS, GAS-FIRED PLANTS

That shift consists of developing 2 getting terminals, marketing and international trading of gas, as well as producing and exporting gas from Ethiopia, Xu stated.

GCL is building an import terminal, approximated to cost 5 billion yuan, in Rudong in Jiangsu province that can manage 3 million metric lots of LNG a year. The task, held 51% by GCL and 49% by independent oil and gas firm Pacific Energy, is slated for start-up in late 2025, stated Xu and Xiong.

Pacific Energy did not instantly respond to a request for discuss the job.

A similar-sized terminal prepared for Maoming in Guangdong province in which GCL will likely own a 43% stake, is pending state approval, they added.

GCL has stakes in 10 gas-fired power plants in Guangdong and Jiangsu, giving it over 2 billion cubic metres of gas need for its trading company. It likewise means to sell gas to third-party clients such as city-gas companies and ceramics makers, Xu said.

GCL is thinking about resuming activity in Ethiopia's gas-rich Ogaden region, where it stopped investment around 2018 after drilling 40 wells, business officials stated.

One proposal is to construct a 600,000 ton-per year liquefaction facility there, the officials said, with an eye to marketing fuel shipped in ISO tanks to South Asia or Europe.

The concept is to establish the gas resource step by step, possibly bringing in strategic partners in the future to make it a considerable LNG export task, Xu stated.