China paid Nigeria a record price for liquefied natural gas last month as demand for the fuel increased in Guangdong, the country's southern manufacturing hub.

The world's second-largest energy consuming nation paid Nigeria $14.35 per million British thermal units for an individual LNG cargo, Bloomberg calculations based on Customs figures released in Beijing today show. That exceeds the $13.9 per million Btu China paid Equatorial Guinea for LNG in May.

China paid Nigeria more than four times more than the $3.15 per million Btu it cost to import LNG from Australia in June under a 25-year supply contract. The nation wants cleaner- burning gas to reduce reliance on coal and crude oil in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

The Nigerian cargo arrived at Guangdong Dapeng LNG Co., one of the nation's two LNG-receiving terminals, on June 5, a Chinese official told Bloomberg on June 18. China paid Nigeria $44.2 million for 59,252 metric tons of LNG and Australia $51.4 million for 313,702 tons, today's customs figures show.

A spot LNG cargo typically weighs between 55,000 and 60,000 tons. LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume at minus 161 degrees Celsius (minus 258 degrees Fahrenheit) for transportation by ships to destinations not connected by pipeline.

Only the U.S. uses more energy than China. A British thermal unit is equivalent to the amount of heat generated by a lighted match.