PetroChina Eyes North American LNG Volumes to Reduce Risk, Says Exec

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PetroChina International, the trading arm of the Chinese oil major, says it is interested in North American liquefied natural gas supplies as it seeks to reduce trading risk by seeking flexibility in supply deals, said a company executive on Tuesday.

“If I look at our portfolio today, I think we’re slightly overweight on duration. I think we signed too many, very long term, take-or-pay SPAs (sales and purchase agreements),” said Zhang Yaoyu, assistant chief executive and global head of LNG.

He added that Asia and China as a whole need more flexibility in their LNG term deals, and that is something that PetroChina International actively tries to “derisk upon.”

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“We firmly believe the diversification process has significantly improved the resiliency of the portfolio, and that’s something that we have been working really hard on.”

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Zhang also said that the company’s portfolio is slightly overweight on inflexible term supply volumes, and it would be interested in taking on some North American positions.

LNG buyers and traders may seek term contracts without destination restrictions so they can resell cargoes when demand is low. Many supply deals from U.S. sellers do not have destination restrictions.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan, Editing by Louise Heavens)