Energy traders were on alert when Reuters reported last week that Chinese energy giant, PetroChina – the world’s first company to hit (and lose) a $1 trillion market cap long before Apple – was in advanced discussions with Qatar to purchase liquefied natural gas (LNG) under short- and long-term agreements. The superficial explanation was that China needed to secure generous amount of LNG to supply its push to replace coal with cleaner burning natural gas to reduce air pollution. And sure enough, after Beijing started the program last year, China had overtaken South Korea as the world’s second-biggest buyer of LNG. The deal also made sense from the perspective of the “blockaded” Qatar, the world’s biggest LNG producer, as the isolated Middle Eastern country sought buyers for a planned output expansion. As it turns out there was another reason for the PetroChina supply diversification: PetroChina may temporarily halt purchases […]