The Blubber

Per Global Times

China's state tabloid, the Global Times, has recently published a piece announcing the success of the first-ever LNG trade that was settled in Chinese yuan. The cross-border trade involved 65,000 tonnes of LNG sourced from the United Arab Emirates.

For the transaction to take place, China's largest offshore oil and gas producer, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) had to carry out the transactions. The transactions involved purchasing LNG through another two companies.

CNOOC bought the LNG shipment from TotalEnergies through Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SPGX), which allowed it to settle the payment for the shipment in yuan.

SHPGX chairman, Guo Xu, said that this was the first time yuan was used to settle an LNG transaction. It was also mentioned that this is a significant step towards promoting multi-currency pricing, settlement, and payments cross-border for LNG.

CNOOC deputy general manager Yu Jin also gave a statement saying they would focus on innovation for their LNG trade business model.

Yu: "In the future, CNOOC will continue to promote innovation in the international LNG trade business model,"

So far, the standing of the Chinese yuan is that it ranks third in terms of largest currency in trade settlement and fifth in both largest payment currency and reserve currency. Of all foreign exchange trades worldwide, yuan already represents 7%.

Recently, China was said to have restricted the withdrawal of capital outside the country. This was relayed by billionaire investor Mark Mobius, who shared how he struggled to get his capital out of China, saying his HSBC bank made it hard for him to withdraw.

It was also reported earlier this year that China had sold 5x more electric vehicles than the US in 2022 alone. It was said that the country sold 5.67 million EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles throughout the entire year.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

Other News:

• China restricts capital withdrawal to outside the country, per billionaire investor Mark Mobius
• China Sold 5X More EVs Compared to the US in 2022

Resources:

Global Times