A worker tests equipment at a factory owned by TGE Gas Engineering GmbH in Bonn, Germany, a subsidiary of CIMC ENRIC Holding Ltd. [Photo provided to China Daily]

CIMC ENRIC Holding Ltd－the energy, chemical and liquid food equipment manufacturing unit of China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd, will deliver in 2018 two liquefied natural gas storage tanks with a capacity of 160,000 cubic meters each to its client in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, said a senior executive on Wednesday.

Sun Hongli, the company's deputy general manager, said this is part of China's first approved demonstration project to use LNG to fuel international vessels.

The design, procurement and construction work will be completed by Nanjing Yangzi Petrochemical Design Engineering Co Ltd and Germany-based TGE Gas Engineering GmbH, two subsidiaries of CIMC ENRIC.

CIMC ENRIC completed constructing the pile foundation of these two LNG storage tanks for its client－the Langfang-based ENN Group earlier this month.

ENN's LNG fueling terminal project is located in the Marine Industry Cluster Zone of the Zhoushan Archipelago New Area.

The total investment for this project is 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). The project is divided into three phases. When completed and put into operation, the annual LNG handling capacity will reach 10 million tons.

Phase I includes one 80,000-cu-m to 266,000-cu-m LNG unloading berth, one LNG replenishing vessel loading berth with capacity of 5,000 cu m to 60,000 cu m, two berths for ro-ro ships that can carry tank vehicles, and two 160,000-cu-m LNG storage tanks, which are expected to be put into operation in September 2017.

Under the plan, an additional two 160,000-cu-m LNG storage tanks will be constructed for Phase II and four more for Phase III.

The central government gave permission in 2015 for ENN to build an LNG receiving terminal in Zhoushan. China's 11 existing LNG receiving terminals and another five under construction belong to the three major State-owned oil and gas enterprises: Sinopec Group, PetroChina Co and CNOOC Ltd.

"Since we acquired TGE in 2008, it has been actively expanding in the Chinese market and has so far provided more than 10 160,000-cu-m LNG storage tank EPC projects and LNG terminals total solutions to the domestic market," said Sun.

The projects include CNOOC's Dapeng LNG terminal tank in Guangdong province, the storage tank works of CNOOC LNG projects in Shenzhen and Ningbo, a LNG peak shaving terminal for Shenzhen Gas Group Co Ltd under construction, which will be delivered in 2017.

He Jingtong, a professor specializing in energy security at Tianjin's Nankai University, said the global energy glut and the sluggish economy will continue to drive down prices of LNG, which means that imports of the supercooled fuel are cheaper than domestic production.

"China's LNG imports and related infrastructure facilities are expected to rise in the long term amid mounting pressure caused by air pollution," said He.