Document shows EU countries want more transparency about Russian gas imports
In a letter to the European Commission on Monday, a group of EU member states including France and the Baltic States asked for tighter reporting requirements across the EU on Russian LNG imports. In June, the EU approved a 14th set of sanctions that included a prohibition on the trans-shipment of Russian LNG in its ports. Moscow has used European ports for transshipment onto other vessels bound for Asia. Imports of Russian LNG were not banned. Several EU countries continue to receive Russian pipeline gas via Ukraine and Turkey.
Top U.S. LNG Exporter Launches Effort to Measure Emissions
Cheniere Energy Inc, said on Thursday it would quantify carbon emissions from its suppliers and production sites and supply the information to customers.LNG buyers have begun asking suppliers for natural gas sourcing data and greenhouse gas emissions to reduce their own carbon footprints. Several LNG producers are proposing adding carbon capture and storage alongside their LNG projects.Cheniere said it signed agreements with five natural gas producers and several academic institutions to implement quantification…
Europe Looks for Gas as Groningen Folds
Europe’s energy landscape will be completely changed once the Dutch shut down the largest gas field on the continent years ahead of schedule, according to Rystad Energy.The Netherland recently announced that production at Groningen – Europe’s largest gas field – will be halted in 2022, eight years earlier than initially planned. However, despite the ambitious target of decommissioning the field by 2022, Rystad Energy expects that there could be some residual production from…
Bechtel Bags Rio Grande LNG EPC Deal
US project management services provider Bechtel has won the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts totaling $9.565 billion for the LNG export project developer NextDecade-led Rio Grande liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the US.The fully wrapped lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) EPC contracts include cost, schedule, and performance guarantees, NextDecade said in its statement.The EPC contracts are for the first phase of the Rio Grande LNG project, which consists of three liquefaction trains…
Natural Gas Consumption Up 10% in China
According to the preliminary estimate, the consumption of natural gas in China exceeded 27 million cubic meters in 2018, registering a YOY increase of more than 10%, said a report.The growing Chinese economy and stricter environmental protection policies drive the growth of natural gas consumption in China. In 2018, the Chinese government introduced several environmental protection policies to further prevent and control atmospheric pollution and replace coal with natural gas in key areas…
U.S. LNG Exports Soar, Europe a Big Buyer
U.S. LNG to Europe may squeeze out smaller gas suppliers.Shipments of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) have gathered pace in March and Europe is set to stay a top destination for spot cargoes with Asian prices still too low to ship the chilled fuel that far.But winter demand for gas is fading, while steady supplies of gas and LNG have kept inventories well stocked, depressing European gas hub prices. This has raised the question: how many more cargoes can Europe absorb?Suppliers of U.S.
BMT Inks Service Deal with Al Masaood
BMT said it has signed a service agreement with UAE oil and gas supplier and contractor Al Masaood Oil & Gas.The agreement with the Abu Dhabi headquartered company will see BMT being assisted by Al Masaood Oil & Gas to deliver risk & safety, environmental modelling, marine & port engineering, metocean, environmental, integrity and structural monitoring and data management services for projects situated in the UAE.Al Masaood Oil & Gas General Manager, Ahmad El Tannir, said…
APLNG, QCLNG Strike Deal to Share Infrastructure
The Australia Pacific LNG project (APLNG) said that it has signed a deal to buy gas from neighboring Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG ) project and for both projects to share infrastructure.Under the tolling agreements, the QCLNG project will be able to transport and process gas and water from the Arrow Energy Surat Basin fields using available capacity in existing Australia Pacific LNG-QCLNG joint infrastructure. The infrastructure sharing arrangements will commence from 2020 and continue until 2035…
Integrated Gas Compression: A Natural Fit for North America
Natural gas abounds in North America. At the end of 2016, Canada and the U.S. shared 414 trillion cubic feet of proved reserves, with the U.S. the world’s largest producer and Canada the fourth largest. Unsurprisingly, there’s a keen appetite for developing LNG facilities across the continent.In recent years, we’ve seen several large-scale LNG projects taking shape, including five new export terminals coming online in 2018 and 2019. Once in operation, they will make the U.S.
Natural Gas is Here to Stay, Big Oil Says
Energy companies are betting demand for natural gas will rise at break-neck pace for decades, undermining warnings that tackling climate change would require a rapid switch to renewable energy.Top oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total are adapting with growing urgency to the need to develop cleaner energy sources, investing more and more in solar and wind power, electric vehicle technology and even forestation.Still, they see oil, and specially natural gas…
Sinopec Adds LNG Tank at Tianjin Terminal
China's Sinopec Corp completed adding a third tank to store liquefied natural gas at its receiving terminal in Tianjin, marking the completion of construction of the first phase of the import facility, the state oil and gas group said on Tuesday.The terminal, in the northern port city Tianjin, near Beijing, began operations last February. It has an annual receiving capacity of 3 million tonnes and an annual supply capacity of 4 billion cubic meters (bcm).The terminal has so far this year received 22 shipments of LNG that totaled 1.46 million tonnes in volume.
AGL Decision on LNG Import Terminal Expected in FY2019
AGL Energy Ltd, Australia's biggest power producer, expects to make a final investment decision on the country's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the financial year of 2019, a company official said on Friday.The A$250 million ($189 million) project will consist of a leased floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and jetty at Crib Point in the southeastern state of Victoria. The terminal will handle up to 130 to 140 petajoules a year, or 2.6 million tonnes of LNG…
To Frack or Not to Frack? Australia's NatGas Dilemma
The decision by the government of Australia's Northern Territory government to allow the resumption of fracking for natural gas will do little to immediately solve the country's energy woes, but will likely sharpen political battle lines. The territory's government said on April 17 that it has lifted a near two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, accepting the recommendations of its own commission of inquiry into the practice. Northern Territory is a vast…
ExxonMobil, BHP End Australia Gas Sales JV
ExxonMobil, BHP avert court action by regulator. ExxonMobil Corp and BHP Billiton Ltd have agreed to end a nearly 50-year-old gas marketing joint venture in Australia, bowing to pressure from the nation's competition watchdog amid concerns about gas supply and soaring prices. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the companies said on Monday they would start marketing their gas from the Gippsland Basin separately, starting in 2019. "The ACCC was concerned…
Lithuania Inks U.S. LNG Supply Deal
Lithuania's state-owned gas trader Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (LDT) said on Monday it had signed a deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly from the United States for the first time and expects to receive a delivery in the second half of August. The deal is with a unit of Cheniere Energy and is part Lithuania's efforts to diversify its gas suppliers and reduce its reliance on Russia's Gazprom. LDT, part of state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija, signed a deal last year with Koch Supply & Trading for LNG supplies throughout 2017.
Australia Plans to Limit LNG Exports
Australia's conservative government unveiled a radical plan on Thursday to restrict exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at times when domestic shortages push up local prices, aiming to ease soaring energy costs for local manufacturers. The plan would allow Australia's resources minister to impose controls on LNG exports on advice from the market operator and regulator, as the government seeks to cap domestic gas prices, which have become a political hot potato. "It's not a threat. This will be export controls.
Ofgem Winds Up Support Scheme for New Renewable Projects
Britain's energy regulator Ofgem on Friday closed one of the main support mechanisms for large-scale renewable electricity projects to new developers. Since it was set up in 2002, the Renewable Obligation scheme helped boost the share of Britain's electricity generated from low-carbon energy to 23.5 percent from 1.3 percent, Ofgem said. The government has reined in subsidies on renewable energy projects since 2015, including ending support for onshore wind farms. When announcing the cuts, the government said it wanted renewable energy projects to compete on a commercial basis.
Indian Oil Bets Big On Growing Demand for Natural Gas
State-run refiner Indian Oil Corp aims to be one of the top natural gas suppliers in India in the next five years as it bets on growing demand for transport and factories. The company is aiming to generate 15 percent of revenues from its gas supply and distribution business by 2021, Chairman B Ashok told Reuters on the sidelines of a news conference on Wednesday. He said the company has already committed 180 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) to building gas distribution infrastructure across the country and has booked LNG regasification facilities.
Gas Suppliers Praxair, Linde Hold Merger Talks
U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc and German peer Linde AG are in early-stage talks about a merger to create a market leader with a value of more than $60 billion, Linde said on Tuesday, sending shares in both companies higher. An agreement would accelerate consolidation sweeping the industrial gas sector where slower economic growth has weakened demand in the manufacturing, metals and energy sectors and put pressure on smaller players to compete. A combination of Praxair and Linde…
Australia looks to end ExxonMobil, BHP Joint Gas Sales
Australia's competition watchdog wants to break up a marketing joint venture between ExxonMobil Corp and BHP Billiton to help boost competition in the eastern Australian gas market, it said on Friday. Following a year-long investigation into gas supply concerns, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) concluded suppliers have "taken advantage" of potentially lower gas supply to eastern Australia end-users to raise prices and place onerous conditions on buyers. The study also found that pipeline operators in the region exercised market power to implement monopoly pricing.
