China falls short on gas storage

Asia’s biggest gas market has a way to go to meet its storage capacity targets

Storage assets have helped China cope with a surge in gas demand during its coldest winter in decades, but capacity remains woefully inadequate and is likely still short of official targets. Chinese gas suppliers, anticipating a mild winter, were caught off-guard in December and January by freezing conditions amid an unseasonal surge in industrial activity that drove up domestic energy demand. The frigid conditions snarled up ports and hindered energy imports, forcing state-owned LNG importer Sinopec last month to deploy an icebreaker ship and a cannon loaded with hot water to clear a path for an LNG carrier to dock. Storage is vital to balance supply and demand in the Chinese gas market—par