TotalEnergies Signs 15-Year LNG Heads of Agreement With Jiangsu Guoxin for 900,000 Tonnes
TotalEnergies has signed a Heads of Agreement to supply Jiangsu Guoxin Group, a provincial state-owned energy company in China, with 900,000 tonnes of LNG a year for 15 years.
For TotalEnergies’ shareholders and for China’s gas market, the buyer counts for more than the size. The volume equals 2% of the company’s global LNG portfolio of 44 million tonnes in 2025. In The Edge’s reading, its weight lies in adding a provincial buyer to a China book that the company’s 2024 releases tie to the national companies CNOOC and Sinopec, though the start still depends on final sale and purchase agreements.
The Heads of Agreement, announced from Paris and Shanghai on 4 November, is set to start in 2028, subject to the finalization of the sale and purchase agreements. The cargoes are bound for Jiangsu Guoxin Group’s new LNG terminal in Rudong, where the gas will serve city supply and flexible power generation.
Over the full term the volume adds up to 13.5 million tonnes. The release gives no price, value or pricing formula, and it does not name the plants that will supply the cargoes.
Jiangsu Guoxin Group brings a provincial buyer into TotalEnergies’ China sales
Jiangsu Guoxin Group is a state-owned capital investment and operation company under the Jiangsu provincial government, according to the release. Its core businesses are energy, finance and investment in strategic emerging industries, and its energy system spans wind, solar, hydro, thermal power, gas and storage.
TotalEnergies describes Jiangsu as China’s second-largest province by GDP and by natural gas consumption. The company says the volumes will help secure supply and meet peak demand across the province.
Zhang Wenxiang, Deputy General Manager of Jiangsu Guoxin Group, said the agreement would strengthen the group’s gas supply security and the operating efficiency of its infrastructure. He also tied it to the province’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.
Gregory Joffroy, Senior Vice President, LNG at TotalEnergies, linked the agreement to the company’s integrated LNG model and its partnerships with local Chinese counterparties. He cited its ability to “keep delivering LNG to our customers despite major disruptions this year”.
The agreement follows the Sinopec terms signed two years to the day earlier
The terms closely track an agreement announced on the same date in 2024, also from Paris and Shanghai. On 4 November 2024 TotalEnergies signed a Heads of Agreement with Sinopec. It covers 2 million tonnes a year on the same term and start year.
Jiangsu Guoxin Group’s yearly volume is 45% of Sinopec’s. Earlier in 2024, TotalEnergies extended its sale and purchase agreement with CNOOC by five years. The extension covers 1.25 million tonnes a year until 2034.
If both Heads of Agreement proceed as announced, the three China agreements in the company’s releases since 2024 would run side by side from 2028 to 2034. Their combined volume in those years would be 4.15 million tonnes a year, The Edge calculates; the sum covers only these three announced agreements, not its full China sales.
TotalEnergies’ China LNG sales agreements announced since 2024 (volume in million tonnes a year)
| Buyer | Volume | Term | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNOOC | 1.25 | To 2034 | SPA |
| Sinopec | 2.00 | 15 years from 2028 | HoA |
| Jiangsu Guoxin Group | 0.90 | 15 years from 2028 | HoA |
From TotalEnergies’ releases of 19 September 2024 (a five-year extension of the CNOOC agreement), 4 November 2024 and 4 November 2026. SPA is a sale and purchase agreement and HoA a heads of agreement; the form is as each release labels it; the 2026 agreement is subject to the finalization of the sale and purchase agreements.
The company’s description of the market has also changed. Its 2024 releases called China the world’s largest LNG importing country; the 2026 release calls it one of the world’s largest importers and one of its fastest growing.
China’s LNG price stands 76.6% above a year earlier
Inside China, the market price of LNG reached 7,481.9 yuan a tonne in late October, the National Bureau of Statistics of China reported on 4 November. That is 10.9% above the mid-October reading. At the central parity rate of 4 November, it equals $1,114 a tonne.
A year earlier the same series stood at 4,237.1 yuan a tonne, so the latest price is 76.6% higher. The late-October rise is not unique to this year: in late October 2025 the price also climbed 10.3% from mid-October.
China LNG market price, 21 to 31 October (price and change in yuan a tonne)
| Period | Price | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late Oct 2025 | 4,237.1 | 396.9 | 10.3 |
| Late Oct 2026 | 7,481.9 | 732.5 | 10.9 |
Ten-day market prices of important means of production in circulation, releases of 4 November 2025 and 4 November 2026; the change is against 11 to 20 October of the same year.
Domestic production has grown only slightly. Natural gas output by industrial enterprises above designated size reached 196.7 billion cubic metres from January to September, 0.9% more than a year earlier. In September alone output fell 1.0% from a year earlier, to 21.0 billion cubic metres, the bureau said.
Global LNG supply heads for its steepest fall on record
As The Edge set out on 3 November, the International Energy Agency expects global LNG supply to fall 3% this year, the steepest annual decline on record. Its forecast assumes flows through the Strait of Hormuz stay largely disrupted at least until the end of the year.
Asian spot LNG averaged $21.5 per million British thermal units (MBtu) from March to October, almost 80% more than a year earlier, the agency said. Oil-indexed LNG prices rose to an estimated $12 to $14/MBtu in the third quarter.
Contract pricing is becoming more diverse: gas-indexed and hybrid contracts made up 45% of LNG contracts in 2025, by the agency’s count. TotalEnergies has not said which basis the Jiangsu Guoxin Group supply will use.
Demand in the region is weakening for now. The agency forecasts Asia Pacific gas demand to fall 1.5% in 2026, with higher LNG prices encouraging power generators to switch from gas to coal.
TotalEnergies adds supply on the other side of its LNG book
The 2026 release, which calls TotalEnergies the world’s third-largest LNG player, puts its portfolio at 44 million tonnes in 2025. Its 2024 releases gave the same figure for 2023.
On the supply side, The Edge set out on 3 November ADNOC Gas’s agreement to supply TotalEnergies with up to 1.6 million tonnes of LNG. TotalEnergies’ version of that five-year deal adds that first deliveries are expected as of 2026.
In February TotalEnergies also signed a Letter of Intent with Glenfarne, lead developer of the Alaska LNG project, to take 2 million tonnes a year over 20 years. That offtake depends on the project’s final investment decision, and the company presents Alaska LNG as a route with direct access to Asia.
TotalEnergies’ LNG business also earned more in the third quarter than a year earlier. Its Integrated LNG segment posted $1.89 billion of adjusted net operating income, against $852 million a year earlier, as set out in The Edge’s results coverage. The company credited a higher average LNG price and stronger LNG and gas trading. Its average LNG price was $12.28/MBtu against $8.91 a year earlier, while overall LNG sales fell to 9.8 million tonnes from 10.4 million.
What to watch:
2028: deliveries to Jiangsu Guoxin Group’s Rudong terminal are set to begin, subject to the finalization of the sale and purchase agreements; the Sinopec agreement carries the same start year.
Figures are from TotalEnergies’ press release of 4 November 2026, its releases of 19 September 2024, 4 November 2024, 26 February 2026 and 3 November 2026, and its third-quarter 2026 results of 29 October 2026; the National Bureau of Statistics of China’s price releases of 4 November 2025 and 4 November 2026 and its energy production release of 20 October 2026; and the International Energy Agency’s Global Gas Security Review 2026 of 3 November 2026. The dollar value uses the People’s Bank of China central parity of 6.7180 yuan per dollar on 4 November 2026; percentages and comparisons not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations.
Sources: TotalEnergies, National Bureau of Statistics of China, International Energy Agency, People’s Bank of China, The Edge.
