The U.S.-China (Liaoning) Gas Industry Workshop

The U.S.-China (Liaoning) Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop was successfully held on May 15, 2019 at the Intercontinental Dalian Hotel. This event was co-hosted by the National Energy Administration (NEA), U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), as well as the U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program (ECP). It received great support from the Liaoning Provincial Development and Reform Commission, U.S. Embassy in Beijing, as well as the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang. The Dalian workshop is the fifth workshop of the “U.S.-China Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop Series”, succeeding previous workshops in Beijing, Ordos, Guangzhou and Suzhou. The discussions surrounded the theme of U.S.-China natural gas trade and price setting and invited keynote speeches and panel discussions on this topic. Over 150 delegates, including representatives from U.S. and China government agencies, industry leaders, and business representatives actively participated in the Dalian workshop. Among these organizations were the National Energy Administration, Liaoning Provincial Development and Reform Commission (Energy Bureau), Energy Bureau of Guangdong Province, Dalian Municipal People’s Government, as well as the Dalian Development and Reform Commission. It also received representatives from the following ECP member companies: Cheniere Energy, ConocoPhillips, Caterpillar, Emerson, Altec, Ernst & Young LLP, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, and IronRock Energy. As well, delegates from over 70 Chinese companies, including, Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC, SinoChem, Huadian, CHN Energy, Guangdong Energy Group, Beijing Energy Group, Shenzhen Energy Groupand China Merchants Group were present at the event as well.

The workshop commenced with opening remarks given by Mr. Kailong Li, Deputy Secretary General of the Dalian People’s Government; Mr. Stephen L. Green, Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing; Mr. Yong Fang, Deputy Director General at the Liaoning Provincial Development and Reform Commission; as well as Mr. Steven Winkates, Director of Program Management for East Asia from USTDA. Dialogues between distinguished guests and panelists from both the U.S. and China comprehensively covered important topics such as market demand, upstream storage, price setting mechanisms, international trade, contract management, as well as infrastructure and application development. From extensive deliberations and engagements, the attendees furthered their understanding on the role of companies from both countries on natural gas development in Liaoning as well as Northeast China, and the complementarity of the U.S.-China natural gas trade.

On May 16, 2019, approximately 40 guests visited Dalian LNG Terminal at PetroChina LNG Dalian Co., Ltd. Accompanied by the LNG terminal staff, participants witnessed the LNG receiving, gasification, storage, and transportation process at the port facilities. This field trip successfully concluded the U.S.-China (Liaoning) Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop.

The Dalian workshop received optimism and positive feedbacks through the support of ECP member companies. It also extended the platform of extensive engagement and communications in the U.S.-China gas industry while actively promoting the success of energy transformation and natural gas development in the Liaoning province and on a greater scale, Northeast China.