China's CNOOC tenders to sell May-November LNG cargoes -trade

SINGAPORE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China National Offshore Oil Company, or CNOOC, is selling liquefied natural gas cargoes for delivery from May through November in a tender closing on Friday, traders said.

CNOOC, China's largest LNG importer, offered an unspecified number of cargoes on delivered ex-ship basis.

"It's a totally logical move to sell in the market when JKM prices are much higher than domestic Chinese prices," said a Beijing-based trader with knowledge of the tenders, referring to Asian benchmark Japan Korea Marker.

China's Sinopec Corp also has a tender closing on Friday, selling up to 45 cargoes for February-October delivery.

China, the world's largest LNG buyer, last brought in 7.63 million tonnes of the super-chilled fuel in December, up only 1.6% from a year earlier as stubbornly high spot prices hurt purchases while the domestic market was amply supplied with peak local production and record imports of piped gas.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu Editing by David Goodman)