PetroChina Co. Ltd. could temporarily stop its imports of LNG spot cargoes from the United States this winter to avoid possible tariffs in the wake of the trade conflict with the U.S. and China, according to an Aug. 12 article from Bloomberg News.

PetroChina, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp., would increase its buying of spot cargoes from other countries or swap U.S. shipments with other countries in East Asia to avoid paying additional tariffs, several unnamed sources told Bloomberg.

Earlier this month China announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on $16 billion of U.S. goods, effective Aug. 23, after the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said it would move forward with imposing 25% tariffs on the same amount of Chinese imports on the same date.

The list of products to be hit by the fresh tariffs includes crude oil, coal and natural gas, including LNG.

The North Asia Sling spot price on the Singapore Exchange Ltd. was pegged at $10.165/MMBtu on Aug. 10, its highest level in a month and up about 66% from the same time in 2017, according to the Bloomberg article.