UPDATE 1-China CNOOC expects 2 mln T Qatar LNG in Q3

Published: 12 Mar 2009 22:20:36 PST

BEIJING, March 13 - China's CNOOC Ltd <0883.HK> will bring in two million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from Qatar in the third quarter, a top company executive said on Friday, part of a massive import deal signed a year ago.

China will import 78 million tonnes of LNG from Qatar, said CNOOC chairman Fu Chengyu. He did not elaborate, but the volume was consistent with a total import amount China agreed with Qatar, the world's largest LNG exporter, last year under a 25-year supply deal.

Fu said the 2 million tonnes of Qatar gas will arrive at CNOOC's Dapeng import terminal in the southern coastal city of Shenzhen.

CNOOC leads China's import business of the super cooled natural gas. Last year, China brought in 3.34 million tonnes, 14.5 percent above 2007 levels, the bulk of which was from Australia, official customs data showed.