Oct 22 Reuters Cheniere Energy expects China gas demand to grow to more than 600 billion cubic meters bcm by 2040 from 400 bcm today, a company executive said at the Asia Gas Markets conference on Tuesday.

There39;s no doubt that gas demand growth in China, in absolute terms, is substantially driven by energy demand, policies like coaltogasswitch as well as a huge infrastructure buildup, said Yingying Zhou, director LNG origination at Cheniere.

China will be the worlds first 100millionton LNG market very soon, with LNG accounting for about 2530 of China39;s overall gas demand mix, Zhou added.

China is the world39;s largest importer of LNG. It imported 71.19 million tons of LNG last year, according to the country39;s customs data.

Reporting by Emily Chow and Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman

Source Reuters