US loses huge Chinese energy market amid trade spat: insider

China’s further opening-up of its energy sector will benefit the world’s main energy exporters except the US as long as it pursues a protectionist stance, an industry insider said on Friday.

Participants of the Seventh China International Oil and Gas Trade Congress welcomed China’s moves to provide foreign investors greater access to the energy sector.

The conference was held during the ongoing China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

China’s energy market is becoming more open and fair by regulating related taxes and fees and relaxing controls on prices and marketing channels, Vice President of PetroChina International Zheng Jun said at the congress.

“This year, China relaxed restrictions on foreign access to setting up gas stations, and it launched crude oil futures in Shanghai in March,” Zheng said. “These measures created a foundation for a deeper connection between Chinese and foreign crude markets.”

China released a new negative list in June that largely relaxed market access to the energy sector, according to the Chinese government.

But the US is hardly able to get a piece of China’s energy market pie because of the trade frictions it has triggered, said Lin Boqiang, dean of Xiamen University’s China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy.

China set a 10 percent tariff on US liquefied natural gas (LNG) goods in September. “That means the price of US LNG products is no longer competi- tive in the Chinese market,” Lin added.

“The US had once signed big natural gas deals with China before initiating the trade frictions, but now it can get little from the world’s top crude importer,” Lin said. “If the US insists on escalating trade tensions with China, its enterprises will suffer a great loss from not being able to tap the huge Chinese energy market.