(Corrects final paragraph to show total volumes are 1.5 millontonnes)
By Jessica Jaganathan
SINGAPORE, March 1 (Reuters) - Chinese gas distributor ENNwill have the first phase of the country's first privately ownedliquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal ready by the middleof this year, a company official said on Thursday.
Construction of the 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa)Zhoushan terminal in China's eastern Zhejiang region is morethan 90 percent complete, with commissioning expected in themiddle of 2018, said Ma Shenyuan, vice president of ENN EnergyHoldings.
The company is also considering expanding the terminal byadding 15 mtpa in phases two and three, he said at an LNGconference in Singapore.
ENN is also planning to set up a purchasing and tradingoffice in Singapore over the next few weeks, he added.
With China's LNG demand expected to grow by more than 10percent on average over the next three years, Ma expects thecountry's LNG imports to easily hit 50 million tonnes by 2020from last year's 38 million tonnes.
"New LNG contracts are needed to meet demand," he said.
China last year overtook South Korea to become the world'ssecond-biggest importer of LNG behind Japan, driven by a government gasification programme that switched millions ofhouseholds to using natural gas rather than coal for householdheating. has signed long-term deals including sales and purchaseagreements with Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) CVX.N and Australia's OriginEnergy ORG.AX and also has an agreement to buy LNG from Total TOTF.PA . The deals total about 1.5 million tonnes a year ofLNG.