The coronavirus outbreak is additionally depressing China’s already slowing gas demand growth to the point that analysts have revised down their estimates for Chinese gas demand growth this year and are warning of a knock-on effect on global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets. Two out of five analysts polled by Reuters expect China’s gas demand growth to slow to 6 percent in 2020, down from estimated 10-percent growth for 2019. The reduced industrial and transportation activity amid the coronavirus outbreak—with factories shut, cities locked down, and travel restrictions imposed—has already started to show in China’s gas demand. Moreover, demand will likely continue to be depressed until industrial activities recover fully after the outbreak, analysts told Reuters. In LNG demand, analysts at Bernstein see China’s demand for the super-chilled fuel rising by just 4 percent annually in 2020, compared to a previous forecast of 13-percent growth. “Given that 60% of […]