China National Offshore Oil Corp's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the southern city of Shenzhen went into operation on Wednesday in an attempt to meet China's growing appetite for natural gas, as the government eyes more of the clean fuel to replace traditional fossil fuel as a main source of energy.

The terminal, with a receiving capacity of 4 million tons per year, will be CNOOC's second LNG terminal in Shenzhen and the ninth terminal nationwide.

As a pioneer in China's LNG sector, CNOOC built the nation's first LNG terminal in 2006. It now operates nine LNG terminals nationwide including those in Dapeng, Fujian and Zhejiang.

It sees an annual receiving capacity of 33.8 million tons, accounting for 56 percent of the country's LNG receiving capacity.

The company has so far imported more than 120 million tons of LNG, equivalent to a carbon dioxide reduction of some 400 million tons and more than 800 million trees, it said.