But maybe not any more.

According to Bloomberg, Chinese state-owned energy giants have been recently told by authorities to stop reselling liquefied natural gas cargoes (certainly those from Russia) to gas-starved Europe, in what could be a blow to the European hopes of continuous high inflows of LNG as the winter approaches.  

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top planning body, told the country's state-held LNG importers including Sinopec, PetroChina, and CNOOC, that they should stop reselling LNG cargoes and keep them to ensure Chinese gas supply this winter, Oilprice reported citing Bloomberg sources.

In recent months, as we reported first in August, Chinese LNG importers have been selling their excess inventories to Europe and reaping substantial profits from the sales because of lackluster demand in China. Chinese domestic demand has been squashed by rolling waves of city-wide Covid lockdowns and a slowdown in economic growth.