Current global energy conditions present a great opportunity for China to establish a natural gas trading center for northeastern Asia in Shanghai, according to Wang Yusuo, a member of China’s top political advisory body and chairman of ENN Group, a privately owned energy giant.

Wang, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said his suggestion to create a regional trading center is motivated not only by low crude prices but also by sufficient supplies of liquefied natural gas. The CPPCC and the National People’s Congress are in Beijing for the annual two sessions meetings.

Shanghai is located near the center of central, northeastern and southeastern Asia, which means it has a wide range of shipping lines to all Asian markets as well as to other global natural gas trading markets as they develop, such as in the United States, Wang said.

“This has given Shanghai the natural condition for the center’s establishment,” he said. “China should build the center before Japan and Korea, which will help China and other countries in the region gain a bigger say in terms of pricing in the global natural gas market.”