CHINA has begun building a US$1 billion natural gas import and storage base in the southern coastal province of Guangdong, a project in which U.S. energy major ExxonMobil is advancing discussion with partners for a joint investment.

ExxonMobil inked in September 2018 a preliminary deal with Guangdong to invest billions of dollars worth of projects in the province, including a petrochemical complex and a liquefied natural gas terminal in Huizhou.

“ExxonMobil is progressing project discussions with potential partners,” a Beijing-based company representative said, without giving further details.

Xinhua reported Saturday that Guangdong started constructing the terminal last Friday and aimed to start operating the import facility around the end of 2023.

The new terminal, situated at Huidong County of Huizhou, has a designed annual receiving capacity of 4 million tons under phase-one investment estimated to cost 6.636 billion yuan (US$1.02 billion), Xinhua said.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, gave the greenlight for the project in early-July, the report added.

The Huizhou terminal includes a berth that can dock up to 266,000 cubic-meters tankers of liquefied natural gas and three storage tanks each sized 200,000 cubic meters.

(SD-Agencies)