Gas Matters Today | news roundup | 17-21 Feb 2020

International

The global LNG market is increasingly unlikely to witness a tightening supply-demand balance until the latter half of this decade as additional volumes come on-stream following a record year of FIDs in new liquefaction capacity in 2019, Shell has said in its 2020 LNG Outlook.

Repsol posted a USD 4 billion loss for 2019, after recording multi-billion dollar impairment on production assets, in assuming a lower oil and gas price scenario due to the energy transition, the company said in its 2019 results last Thursday.

Asia Pacific

Indonesia – Inpex-led Abadi LNG project has lined up maiden offtake deals after signing MOUs with Indonesia’s state-owned power and fertiliser producers for long-term supplies of LNG and pipeline gas from the proposed 9.5 mtpa capacity LNG plant, expected online in 2027.

Myanmar – South Korea’s Posco International has hailed positive initial test results from a newly discovered reservoir offshore Myanmar close to its in-production Shwe project, which should enable a cost-efficient and expedited route to market for the new field, dubbed Mahar.

Australasia

Australia – A gas supply shortfall on the east coast is unlikely to occur this year, Australia’s competition watchdog has said, but the long-term outlook remains uncertain after writedowns of reserves by Queensland’s LNG producers and continued drilling moratoriums in the south.

The government has awarded an Adelaide-based infrastructure operator USD 845,300 to support plans to inject up to 10% renewable hydrogen into distribution networks in Victoria and South Australia, with the aim of developing a pathway to 100% hydrogen networks.

Caribbean

Barbados / Trinidad & Tobago – The island nations have signed a unitisation agreement to jointly explore for resources across their maritime boundary, as Trinidad looks to firm up gas supply for its underutilised LNG plant.

Central & South America

Nicaragua – The country is set to join the LNG importers’ club after striking a deal with small-scale specialist New Fortress Energy for the supply of LNG to a proposed new terminal, which will supply a new 300 MW gas-fired station to displace dirtier diesel and fuel oil generation.

Europe

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has pledged Washington will invest “up to USD 1 billion” to “galvanize” investment in energy infrastructure in order to bolster exports of US LNG and reduce central and eastern Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.

EU – The European Ombudsman, which holds EU institutions to account, has opened an inquiry into the European Commission’s alleged failure to carry out a climate sustainability assessment of gas projects on its latest list of schemes shortlisted to receive EU subsidies.

France – Qatar Petroleum has snapped up a “new LNG import terminal position” in northwest Europe after signing a long-term agreement with Elengy for LNG receiving, storage and regasification services at the Montoir-de-Bretagne import facility in France.

Mediterranean

Greece / Libya / Turkey – Turkey plans to begin exploration work southeast of Crete as soon as the UN publishes the geographical coordinates of the maritime border agreement between Turkey and Libya signed last November and the authorities in Ankara issue an exploration permit.

Middle East

Iran – Tehran and other major cities are suffering electricity blackouts, which officials blame on a spike in domestic gas consumption and cyber-attacks on power facilities.

Oman – The biggest non-OPEC oil and gas producing country in the Middle East, has awarded Total and Thailand’s PTTEP rights to explore and develop non-associated gas reserves in a 9,546 sq km block in central Oman, the national oil and gas ministry has said.

United Arab Emirates – Abu Dhabi state-owned ADNOC has taken another major step towards making the UAE gas self-sufficient after awarding EPC contracts to develop the Dalma project – part of the wider Ghasha concession that will meet over 20% of national gas demand by the late 2020s.

North America

US – Kinder Morgan has avoided a feared six-month construction delay and USD 135 million cost increase on its Permian Highway Pipeline project after a Texas court dismissed an application by a coalition seeking to temporarily block construction.

Gas flaring in Texas is “notably lower than the rest of the world”, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said in his maiden flaring report, which concluded that targeting large-scale flaring reductions would dramatically increase crude prices and only minimally reduce global emissions.

The future of the Jordan Cove LNG liquefaction project has once again been called into question after the FERC voted against approving construction of the facility after regulators in Oregon denied the project coastal zone management certification.

The California Energy Commission has cancelled its licence for the Palmdale Energy Project, a long-awaited 645 MW CCGT set to be built in Los Angeles county, on request from the project developers, following a series of legal challenges from environmental groups.

South Asia

India – Singapore-headquartered infrastructure firm AG&P has broken ground on its maiden LNG terminal in Karaikal Port on the east coast, with the achievement coming amid reports suggesting that the nation will import a record volume of LNG in February.