Total delivered its first carbon-neutral LNG cargo to China's state-controlled CNOOC on 29 September, the third such cargo that the Chinese firm has received this year.

Total delivered a cargo from the 8.9mn t/yr Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG in Australia to the CNOOC-operated 6.7mn t/yr Dapeng LNG receiving terminal in south China's Guangdong province. The firm did not reveal the size of the cargo. It has supply agreements with CNOOC totalling around 1.5mn t/yr of LNG.

The 145,000m³ Methane Lydon Volney delivered a cargo to Dapeng on 29 September, which had loaded at Australia's Darwin port on 11 September, according to vessel tracking data. The capacity of the vessel, if fully laden, is equivalent to around 3.42 trillion Btu that is similar to the size of most LNG cargoes at around 3.3 trillion-3.5 trillion Btu.

The amount of carbon dioxide emissions associated with the whole carbon footprint of the LNG cargo, from production to consumption, was offset with Verified Carbon Standards (VCS) certified emissions reduction projects such as the Hebei Guyuan wind power project in China and the Kariba REDD+ forest protection project in Zimbabwe, Total said. VCS allows certified projects to turn their greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals into tradeable carbon credits.

CNOOC in June signed an agreement with Shell to receive two carbon neutral LNG cargoes. The delivery date of the cargoes was unclear.

CNOOC said that it intended to auction the cargoes from Shell on the Shanghai petroleum and natural gas exchange to provide downstream gas users with the opportunity of decarbonising their use of LNG. But no dates for the auction were disclosed.

Taiwan's state-owned CPC received a carbon neutral cargo from Shell in March, while Japanese utility Tokyo Gas and South Korean firm GS Energy each received one such cargo from Shell around July last year.