Germany builds LNG import terminals
Germany is expanding its natural gas import options as part of efforts to decarbonise and replace Russian supplies. Here are some details about terminals that will host floating storage regasification (FSRU) units to receive LNG. There are also plans for shore-based terminals, as well as facilities to produce and import ammonia and hydrogen. On Sept. 17, the private company Deutsche ReGas began reloading LNG from the LNG tanker Coral Energy using smaller tanks to deliver LNG in areas without pipeline access. The site was opened to regular operations on Sept. 2, with FSRUs Energos Power & Neptune.
Freeport LNG plant to resume service in Texas on Thursday, LSEG data indicates
LSEG data indicated that the U.S. liquefied gas (LNG), company Freeport LNG, was on schedule to resume service at its Texas export plant on Thursday. The facility had been shut down on Wednesday. Freeport is one the most watched U.S. export LNG plants in the World because of its history of changing global gas prices every time it restarts or shuts down. However, energy traders noted that the gas prices in other parts of the world did not change much on Wednesday, because Freeport had stated it was "actively reestablishing its operations." Traders said that this convinced the market that the outage would only last a short time.
Engineers say two oilfields in south-east Libya have been shut down
Engineers at the fields said on Tuesday that two oilfields have stopped production, and another had its output reduced. This shows a plan announced on Monday to reduce production is in effect. Although the eastern-based administration announced on Monday that the oilfields would be closed, neither the internationally recognised government of Libya in Tripoli nor the National Oil Corp, which controls Libya's oil resources, have confirmed this. Khalifa haftar, the eastern Libyan military commander, controls most of Libya's oilfields. On Tuesday, engineers from Amal and Nafoora said that production had been halted.
First tender for investment in wind and solar plants seeks to attract Moldovan investors
Moldova has launched its first bid for wind and solar energy plants as part of its efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian power. "Opening the market to investors for renewable energy development is another important step in ensuring greater security of energy for Moldova," said Energy Minister Victor Parlicov. The development of renewables is a step towards achieving energy independence in Moldova. Moldova, which is one of Europe's most impoverished countries, was "in an incredibly vulnerable situation" when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. However, it worked hard to reduce the country's dependence on Russia.
New Fortress Energy shares tumble after it misses earnings expectations
New Fortress Energy Inc missed its second-quarter earnings estimate on Friday due to delays in launching a floating LNG facility off the coasts of Altamira and Mexico. New Fortress' stock fell 21% in the morning of Friday on Nasdaq. According to LSEG, the company reported a quarterly net loss of $88M and a loss of 44 Cents per Share. This compares with a median expectation from nine analysts of earnings of 7Cents per Share. The second quarter revenue fell by 23.8%, to $428.01 millions from $690.01 million the first quarter. This is well below analysts' expectations of $509.24million.
India's Top Oil Refiner Plans 10,000 Electric Car Charging Stations
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will set up 10,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the next three years and is drawing up plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its operations to aid the country's net-zero carbon target by 2070, its chairman said on Wednesday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced 2070 as the target for India to reach net zero, saying that by 2030 the share of renewables in India's energy mix would rise to 50% from 38% and projected emissions would be cut by a billion tonnes.IOC, the country's largest fuel retailer and refiner…
"Coal has to go," CEO of Poland's PGE Says
Coal has obviously to be scrapped as a power source, the CEO of the Polish group which owns the EU’s biggest carbon-emitting power plant said on Thursday, underscoring a policy shift in a country until recently wedded to coal to generate electricity.Poland produces most of its electricity from coal but has made a series of policy shifts in recent months and now plans investment in offshore wind, nuclear power and solar energy to help decarbonize its economy.“Today it is obvious that we need to move away from coal,” Wojciech Dabrowski, chief executive of PGE, told an offshore industry conference.
Brent Oil Prices Rise Above $60
Brent crude oil futures rose above $60 a barrel on Wednesday after industry data showed a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories, but lingering worries about a possible global recession capped gains.Brent crude had gained 26 cents, or 0.43%, to $60.29 a barrel by 0900 GMT, after settling 0.5% higher on Tuesday, while U.S. crude was up 3 cents, or 0.05%, at $56.16 a barrel.U.S. crude oil stocks fell by 3.5 million barrels in the week to Aug. 16, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed on Tuesday.
Voser Steps in as Interim CEO at ABB
ABB Chief Executive Ulrich Spiesshofer has quit the Swiss industrial group as the board and major shareholders look for a speedier turnaround at the maker of industrial robots and supplier of factory automation.Spiesshofer’s abrupt exit follows the launch of the biggest overhaul in ABB’s 31-year history to reposition the company more toward digital industries and agreeing to activist shareholder demands to sell its power grids business.But the latest revamp by the former management consultant failed to revitalize ABB’s stock…
$13 Bln Papua LNG Project Pushes Ahead
France's Total and its partners signed a long-awaited deal with Papua New Guinea on Tuesday that will allow initial work to start on a $13 billion plan to double the country's liquefied natural gas exports.Developing the Pacific island nation's gas reserves is seen as crucial to its economy as LNG is its biggest export earner, while demand for the fuel is surging globally.Total's partner Oil Search said the agreement would allow the parties to start engineering and design work for a project dubbed Papua LNG also involving Exxon Mobil.They now aim to make a final investment decision in 2020…
Turkey Set to Begin Drilling off Cyprus
Turkey will begin drilling for oil and gas near Cyprus in coming days, state-owned news agency Anadolu reported Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu saying on Thursday, a move that could stoke tensions with neighboring Cyprus and Greece.Turkey and the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government have overlapping claims of jurisdiction for offshore oil and gas research in the eastern Mediterranean, a region thought to be rich in natural gas."In the coming days we will start drilling with two ships around Cyprus…
En+ Considers Move to Russia's New Offshore Zone
En+ Group, hit by U.S. sanctions against Russia in April, said on Thursday it was investigating the possibility of re-domiciling from Britain's Jersey to one of Russia's new offshore zones.London-listed En+ Group, which manages the energy and aluminium businesses of Oleg Deripaska, was one of eight companies with ties to the Russian tycoon to be placed on a U.S. Treasury blacklist in April. The sanctions were related to Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.En+ also said on Thursday that its board…
Orsted Buys US Onshore Wind Developer LCE
Danish energy group Orsted has agreed to buy U.S. onshore wind farm developer Lincoln Clean Energy (LCE) in a $580 million deal, aiming to gain a foothold in what it sees as a key growth market.The acquisition is the latest move for Orsted as it seeks to shed its fossil fuel business and become an entirely green energy company.Orsted, which has so far mainly developed offshore wind farms in Europe, said the global market for onshore wind power is expected to grow significantly in coming years and that the United States is a key market."We see this as a very valuable addition to building a long-term platform for growth in the U.S.
India's Oil Imports Reach Record High in January
India imported a record 4.93 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in January to feed its expanded refining capacity and meet rising demand, ship tracking data obtained from sources and data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research & Forecasts showed. The world's third-biggest oil importer shipped in 13.6 percent more oil in January than a year earlier and about 12.5 percent more than the previous month, the data showed. Imports in January were high as state-run refiners, which operate two-third of India's nearly 5 million bpd capacity, usually boost runs in the March quarter to meet government-set targets.
Sistema to Pay Rosneft $2.3 Bln in Damages
A Russian court ruled on Wednesday that conglomerate Sistema should pay more than 136 billion roubles ($2.3 billion) to oil major Rosneft in a dispute over oil producer Bashneft. Sistema controlled Bashneft until 2014 when the government seized its stake, saying Bashneft's privatisation had been illegal. Rosneft bought a controlling stake in Bashneft from the government in 2016 and in May filed the lawsuit seeking compensation from Sistema, saying assets were removed from Bashneft. Sistema has rejected these claims as groundless. The court battle has hit Sistema shares and rekindled broader fears about investor rights in Russia.
SBM Offshore Raises Outlook Buoyed by Deepwater Spending
SBM Offshore, a Dutch provider of floating oil and gas production vessels, raised its core earnings guidance on Wednesday citing clients slowly spending more on deepsea projects. "Deepwater is becoming attractive again. It's on a par from an economic standpoint with shale oil," said Chief Executive Bruno Chabas, in reference to a recovery in spending which fell after a sharp drop in oil prices in 2014. Due to low production costs, the shale oil market has attracted huge investments, especially in the United States, and outperformed investor interest elsewhere in the oil market.
Statoil Set to Drill Its Biggest Arctic Hope
Norway's Statoil will soon start drilling this season's most promising Arctic prospect, Korpfjell, after several disappointing wells in the Barents Sea, the company said on Monday. The majority state-owned company has stepped up drilling in the Barents Sea this year as the government seeks to attract more explorers to its Arctic waters to make up for declining North Sea output. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Monday Statoil's latest well in the Barents Sea, Gemini North, had found only minor volumes of gas and oil.
U.S. East Coast Looks to Nigerian Liftings
Price benchmarks on which West African oil are based fell by more than 1 percent amid concerns over rising oil rig counts in the United States, which last week reached their highest since October 2015. * Drillers added eight rigs in the week to Feb. 10, bringing the total to 591, the most since October 2015, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said on Friday. * Top OPEC oil producer Saudi Arabia made a large cut in its crude output in January, helping boost compliance with the group's supply-reduction deal to a record high of more than 90 percent, according to data in a monthly report released on Monday.
Ending of China's Super-boom Spells Pain
A decade-old commodity boom came crashing to an end in 2015, hurting energy and mining companies and punishing prices as China's industrial rise and appetite for raw materials slowed. The outlook for 2016 is not much better. The Thomson Reuters Core Commodity Index fell by a quarter over the year to hit its lowest level since 2002 in December, as commodities ranging from iron ore to oil took a battering. "The chances of an optimistic 2016 are bleak," Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong's Wing Fung Financial Group, said. Further interest rate hikes by the U.S.
Estonia Grants Oil Shale Industry a Tax Break
Estonia's government is giving the country's oil shale miners a 40 million euro ($44 million) a year tax break to help them weather weaker global oil prices. The Baltic state is one of the world's largest and oldest miner and processor of oil shale, a rock rich in organic matter called kerogen, which the country has used for more than 50 years to generate the bulk of its electricity. But low oil prices, coupled with a squeeze on profitability from cheaper power imports from Nordic countries whose prices hit 15-year lows in 2015, have forced companies to lay off hundreds of employees in the politically sensitive northeast of the country.
