British Columbia, a province of Canada, has sent its first shipment of liquefied natural gas to China, marking a milestone in LNG transportation between the two countries.

The 950 gigajoules of gas, about 17 metric tons of LNG, was transported from Canadian company Fortis BC's Tilbury plant in the Vancouver suburb of Delta. It was shipped by CIMC Enric Holding with container ships.

This is the first time for LNG to be exported from Canada to the Chinese market, an event of great significance at a time when China's demand for LNG is growing rapidly.

China is now the world's third largest LNG importer. According to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, the country is expected to surpass South Korea in 2018 and Japan by 2020 to become the largest LNG importer in the world.

"This export will be the beginning for British Columbia to export LNG to China on a large scale," Michelle Mungall, the province's minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources, said.

Compared with traditional transportation modes, a container shipment of LNG is more flexible and cost-saving with no need for massive export and import terminals.