A unit of US energy giant and LNG player ExxonMobil has recently signed a cooperation deal with state-owned China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network (PipeChina).
ExxonMobil (China) Investment and PipeChina signed the deal to boost existing cooperation in the Chinese downstream oil and gas market in Shanghai on November 5, according to a statement by ExxonMobil.
The two companies would collaborate on a number of business opportunities, including traditional oil and gas transportation, fuels and lubes, as well as low-carbon solutions development, the statement said.
ExxonMobil said future collaboration would focus on utilizing PipeChina’s oil and gas infrastructure.
“ExxonMobil’s global scale, integration and functional excellence coupled with PipeChina’s open and forward-looking infrastructure planning will help China meet its fast-growing energy demand and goals for carbon neutrality by 2060,” Koh Tze San, president of ExxonMobil China gas marketing, said in the statement.
China launched PipeChina in December 2019 to acquire pipelines and LNG import terminals from the country’s state-owned energy giants.
The company’s unit that operates LNG terminals, PipeChina LNG Terminal Management, earlier this year signed a terminal use agreement with a unit of Shell, marking an important step in opening up of PipeChina’s LNG terminals for third party access.
On the other hand, ExxonMobil has been very active in the LNG industry this year with chartering of new vessels, agreeing a deal with its partner QatarEnergy for Golden Pass volumes, as well as signing supply deals with NextDecade and Venture Global LNG.
ExxonMobil also took a 6.25 percent stake in QatarEnergy’s massive $28.75 billion North Field East (NFE) expansion project, which will boost Qatar’s LNG export capacity by 32 million tons per annum.