By Jessica Jaganathan and Muyu Xu

China's Foran Energy Group, formerly known as Foshan Gas Group, bought a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo in the spot market in a rare move, four traders said on Wednesday.

The China-based company bought the cargo for delivery in June at $2.60 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), two of them said.

Foran could not immediately be reached for comment while details of the seller could also not be confirmed.

The traders said that it is likely the first time that Foran was buying a spot cargo directly from the market.

In July, a consortium of five city-gas companies including Foran jointly bought their first spot LNG cargo.

Foran is engaged in the transmission and distribution of natural gas in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The company said last month that it had signed a non-binding LNG purchase deal known as heads of agreement (HOA) with oil major BP for up to 600,000 tonnes a year.

Foran and BP are shareholders in China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), which operates the Dapeng LNG terminal in Guangdong province.

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore and Muyu Xu in Beijing; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christian Schmollinger)