By Christopher Charleston and Nicholas Lua (Bloomberg) —
US ethane producers said the government has removed license requirements for shipping the gas to China, clearing the way for deliveries to the country’s ports without additional approvals.
The Bureau of Industry and Security said the rules — which were put in place last month and required licenses for exports or transfers of ethane to Chinese parties — have now been rescinded, according to filings from Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer LP on Wednesday.
The companies can offload ethane directly in China without seeking separate US authorization, they said. Reuters reported the news earlier.
Ethane became a political flashpoint between Beijing and Washington after the US tightened controls on exports. Overseas shipments plummeted, and tankers were forced to idle or sail to new destinations such as India after previously only plying dedicated routes between America and China.
It’s “back to business as usual,” said Samantha Hartke, Vortexa Ltd.’s head of market analysis for the Americas. “We would expect a return to more seasonal US ethane exports to China of around 240,000 barrels per day in July.”
Ethane is a natural gas liquid primarily used to produce ethylene, a building block for plastics, and China depends almost entirely on the US for supply. The Commerce Department early last month issued letters requiring licenses for any cargoes tied to Chinese firms, raising uncertainty for exporters.
