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Reliance Industries (RIL) has invited potential customers to bid for a supply of coal bed methane (CBM) from its blocks at Shahdol and Annupur in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and quote an acceptable price indexed to the value of imported LNG. The advertisement, posted in a number of national and regional Indian daily newspapers on Friday, asked consumers to quote a figure in $/MMBtu, which would be added to the price at which Petronet imports LNG from Qatar under long-term contract.
Malaysia's national power utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), and state oil company Petronas will jointly invest around $660 million in an LNG receiving terminal and a 300 MW gas-fired power plant in Sabah, East Malaysia, according to media reports on Thursday. The project is expected to help ease power outages in eastern Sabah, which is frequently blighted by electricity disruptions.
Royal Dutch Shell is looking to reverse falling production trends by targeting a 25% rise in oil and gas production within six years, with output expected to average around 4 million boe/d by 2017-18. New growth will be driven by over 60 new projects, including the West Qurna 1 and Majnoon projects in Iraq, Australian LNG and liquids-rich shale exploration, which are believed to represent at least 20 billion boe in resources.
Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has approved a licence application to export 1.8 mtpa of LNG from a proposed LNG facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, planned by the Douglas Channel Energy Partnership, the NEB announced on Thursday.
Despite Cheniere only announcing its intention to develop an LNG export terminal at its existing Corpus Christi site in Texas last December, Jean Abiteboul – president of supply and marketing at Cheniere – told Gas Matters Today on Wednesday that Indian LNG buyers are among a number of interested parties to have enquired about a possible long-term supply deal from the terminal.
Royal Dutch Shell is well positioned to mitigate low gas prices in the US by adjusting the rate of saleable natural gas production, according to chief executive Peter Voser. Speaking at Shell’s 2011 results and company update on Thursday, Voser said Shell was also optimising its production costs, and was less exposed than many energy companies with higher cash costs.
Gazprom said on Wednesday it has been struggling to meet extra demand from European customers during the cold snap this past week, as stored supplies and imports from Russia and Norway have been attempting to tackle the spike in heating demand. “A Gazprom company source”, quoted by Reuters has said that gas nominations from some of its customers "are higher than we can put in the pipe", adding that nominations “have been higher for more than a week."
PetroChina has bought a 20% stake in Canada’s Groundbirch tight gas project in north-east British Columbia from Royal Dutch Shell for an undisclosed fee, according to media reports on Thursday.
Cheniere Energy is planning to make a final investment decision (FID) on its Sabine Pass liquefaction plant in the US state of Louisiana as early as March, Cheniere president of supply and marketing Jean Abiteboul told Gas Matters Today in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. Sabine Pass will have an overall capacity of 18 mtpa and has now tied up 16 mtpa under long term deals, but Abiteboul said no further deals will be signed for the remaining 2 mtpa.
Proposed sanctions against Iran currently being drafted by US lawmakers are in danger of complicating the development of the Shah Deniz phase II gas development in the Caspian Sea, in which Iran’s Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) holds a 10% stake. The project looks likely to be protected from sanctions in the short-term, but longer-term uncertainties remain.
Australian exploration company, Tamboran Resources said it has discovered a shale gas resource on the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with potential reserves of 2.2 Tcf, enough to supply Northern Ireland’s gas needs for fifty years. The company said on Tuesday that “the energy and economic benefits would be tremendous.” However, Tamboran only has an exploration license and the Northern Ireland Assembly voted for a moratorium on fracking last year.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) announced on Monday new country-wide guidelines on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operating practices designed to improve water management and fluids reporting for shale gas and tight gas development.
UK energy regulator Ofgem said on Tuesday that an independent review into the accounting practices of the UK’s “Big Six” energy utilities has found them to be “broadly fair and appropriate”. Despite last year’s sharp increases in retail natural gas and electricity prices, there is no evidence of profiteering by the companies, but Ofgem is still proposing a number of changes to improve transparency.
Private equity-backed UK company 2Co Power said on Tuesday it had appointed engineering company Foster Wheeler to lead the development of a planned 650 MW flagship carbon capture and storage (CCS) power plant at the Don Valley Power Project in Stainforth, Yorkshire.
Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday that it would not be cutting back on US unconventional gas production in response to low prices. It reported a 3.5% year-on-year rise in fourth quarter 2011 US natural gas production to 4 Bcf/d, and will not be following the example set by Chesapeake and ConocoPhillips, who are shifting their attention to higher-margin liquids output. “We remain bullish on the demand side of natural gas as an energy source in the US," Exxon Mobil said.
The UK government on Tuesday launched its 27th offshore licensing round, offering 2,800 blocks to energy companies. The government is hoping to continue the success of the previous round, which allocated the most licences since offshore licensing began in 1964. That success suggested that significant interest remains in the mature UK North Sea, which still holds up to 20 billion boe of oil and gas.
The new Gas Matters February 2012 is now available online
Independent Russian gas company Novatek has grown rapidly, on what it describes as “a journey from being a relatively obscure gas producer in Russia to one international in stature”. Novatek plans to double its gas output to 113 Bcm in 2020, part of a two-pronged strategy requiring vast upstream investment – including an ambitious Arctic LNG export project – along with a growing share in a liberalising Russian gas market. Novatek’s international and domestic potential is huge, given that it has strong political backing from the Russian leadership, encouraging it to emerge as the main competitor to Gazprom. But this backing has made some investors nervous about the company’s politicised position, despite its attempts to secure an image as the respectable, transparent face of the Russian energy industry. Gas Matters examines Novatek’s rise to become the Russian gas sector’s key growth vehicle, and where it plans to go next.
Since the end of the Libyan revolution’s armed conflict, the country’s oil and gas industry has made a remarkable recovery. In the short term, the efforts of the new authorities and their foreign partners will continue to be focused on the improvement of the security situation and the restoration of oil production to pre-conflict levels. And in the longer term, any plans for gas sector expansion will require significant investment, which in turn will hinge on political stability and how friendly to foreign investors government policy is. Gas Matters examines the outlook for gas in the new Libya.
With the UK government seeking to balance the nation’s future energy security with the need to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is looking to the implementation of a power capacity market to eliminate fluctuations in energy supply arising from a reliance on renewable energy. Gas Matters looks at the challenges in implementing such a plan, and what it could mean for gas.