China has achieved new breakthroughs in building small and medium-sized liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships with the early delivery of a 12,000-cubic-meter transport and refueling vessel in Qidong City, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Sunday.
The ship, named Offshore Oil 302, with a length of 132.9 meters and a deck bigger than the size of a standard football pitch, can sail on both river and sea.
It is China's first LNG transport and refueling vessel that was designed and built according to the specifications of China's shipping classification giant, China Classification Society (CCS), and passed the construction inspection.
As the global green energy transition accelerates, more and more new ships are being built to be powered with LNG.
"Currently, our application for a transport and refueling ship with a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters has been approved. It is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2026. After it is put into use, it will provide supporting services for the Yangtze River Delta refueling center. In the future, CNOOC will establish a complete LNG business chain and continue to improve the integrated layout of the LNG refueling industry," said Wang Wei, deputy general manager of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Energy Development Co, Ltd.
As the fossil fuel with the lowest carbon content, LNG can achieve zero emissions of sulfur oxides, and reduce nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions by 90 and 25 percent, respectively, compared with traditional marine fuel.
It can help to slash the annual fuel cost by about 30 percent, with both environmental and economic benefits.
"Now, we fully own our own independent design and construction capabilities for marine liquid tanks, fuel tanks, and entire ships. Meanwhile, we continue to apply domestic high-end steel material, nine percent nickel steel and high manganese steel to the storage and fuel tanks of LNG ships, further consolidating China's leading position in the field of small and medium-sized LNG transport and refueling ships," said Lou Jiwei, deputy general manager of Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore and Engineering Co,Ltd.
In 2022, China's first LNG transport and refueling ship, Offshore Oil 301, was completed and officially put into use. Since then, the vessel has been continuously operating in the Pearl River Delta region in south China's Guangdong Province for more than 500 days, having completed multiple refueling services for international shipping. The refueling volume surpassed 60,000 cubic meters.
At present, there are currently nine LNG refueling ships under construction in the world, eight of which are designed and built in China.
It is expected that the global LNG refueling market demand will exceed 10 million tons by 2025. By 2030, the number is expected to reach 30 million to 45 million tons.
China makes new breakthroughs in building small, medium-sized LNG ships
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Cho Tae-yul, foreign minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK), in Beijing on Monday.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China and the ROK are close neighbors and should maintain regular exchanges.
Recently, China-ROK relations have been facing difficulties and challenges, which is not in the common interests of both sides, nor is it what China wants to see, Wang said, adding that it is hoped that the ROK side will work with China to stick to the original intention of establishing diplomatic ties, adhere to the direction of good neighborliness and friendship, stick to the goal of mutually beneficial cooperation, remove disturbances, and make joint efforts to push for the sound and steady development of China-ROK relations. He pointed out that China and the ROK should understand and respect each other, strengthen communication and exchanges, eliminate misunderstandings and enhance mutual trust.
Wang added that China hopes the ROK side abides by the one-China principle, properly and prudently handles Taiwan-related issues, and consolidates the political foundation of bilateral relations. The two sides should send more objective and positive messages, increase positive guidance, and strengthen people-to-people exchanges to consolidate public support for bilateral relations.
China is speeding up the development of new quality productive forces, promoting high-quality development and expanding high-level opening up, which will bring important opportunities to the ROK, Wang said, adding that the two sides should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, be reliable and long-term partners in each other's development process, jointly oppose trade protectionism, safeguard the international free trade system, and ensure stable and unimpeded production and supply chains.
Cho said that it is hoped that this visit will become an important step forward in ROK-China relations. The ROK government attaches great importance to its relations with China, and looks forward to working closely with China to develop a healthier and more mature strategic cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect, reciprocity and common interests.
He added that it is in the common interests of the two countries and peoples and the expectation of the international community to promote the development of ROK-China relations and jointly meet common challenges. The ROK is willing to enhance mutual trust, expand consensus and focus on cooperation with China, thus avoiding geopolitical constraints as much as possible and jointly opening up a new situation of bilateral cooperation.
The two sides also exchanged views on China-Japan-ROK cooperation, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and other issues of common concern.
At the invitation of Wang, Cho is visiting China from May 13 to 14.
Chinese foreign minister holds talks with ROK counterpart
