DUBAI — As tit-for-tat tariffs deepen the trade rift between the United States and China, state-run China National Offshore Oil Corporation is stepping up liquefied natural gas purchases from Abu Dhabi following recent deals with Canada in a strategic bid to hedge against energy market volatility and diversify away from US supply.

CNOOC, China's largest offshore oil and gas producer, signed a term deal with state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to buy more volumes of the super-chilled gas. An ADNOC spokesperson confirmed the transaction to Al-Monitor and noted that the deal was between ADNOC Trading and CNOOC's Gas and Power Group, a subsidiary of the Chinese energy company.

He did not confirm the volumes or the tenure of the contract. However, Reuters, which first reported the story, said that the deal was for 500,000 metric tons of LNG to be delivered to CNOOC starting in 2026 over a five-year period.

This would mark the third such deal between a Chinese entity and ADNOC as Beijing scrambles for alternative sources to replace the US supply. Other Chinese companies, including privately held ENN Natural Gas and state-run Zhenhua Oil, have also secured term contracts with ADNOC. ENN Natural Gas secured a 15-year supply contract for 1 million metric tons annually, primarily from ADNOC's 9.6 million-metric-ton-per-annum-capacity Ruwais LNG project, a spokesperson for the Abu Dhabi company told Al-Monitor. Zhenhua Oil signed a contract with ADNOC Trading, he added. Reuters reported that the contract was a five-year agreement for 12 shipments starting in 2026.