Gas Matters Today | news roundup | 24-28 Feb 2020

International

Kosmos Energy has committed to limiting its scope 1 and 2 emissions with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality across operations by 2030, the company said in an investor presentation last week.

Italy’s Eni expects its oil and gas production to plateau in 2025 as the company makes progress towards a new 80% reduction in its net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – by which time gas will make up 85% of the firm’s total production.

Australasia

Australia – Woodside and BHP have adjusted their stakes in their two Scarborough licences and agreed to apply for production licences on both blocks, Woodside has announced.

Santos’ plans to develop coal seam gas reserves in Narrabri, New South Wales, could face political headwinds after a report found the regional government failed to implement recommendations from the state’s chief scientist.

Europe

Italy / Malta – Malta could miss out on over USD 200 million in EU funding for a subsea gas pipeline connecting it to Italian island of Sicily after Brussels questioned the ‘urgency’ of the EUR 400 million project, according to media reports.

UK – Drax power station – once the UK’s largest single source of CO2 emissions – will stop burning coal as early as March 2021, as the company bids to become “carbon negative” by using biomass in combination with CCS by 2030, the Drax group has said.

Mediterranean

Lebanon – Drilling of Lebanon’s first offshore exploration well was expected to start last week in the Total-led consortium’s Block 4, according to the country’s agriculture and culture minister Abbas Mortada.

Middle East

Saudi Arabia – Saudi Aramco has “inaugurated” the country’s gas era, according to state media, after the firm received regulatory approval to develop the nation’s largest unconventional and non-associated field – containing 200 Tcf.

North Africa

Egypt – Partners in the idle 5 mtpa Damietta LNG plant have resolved differences and restructured the facility’s shareholding to allow resumption of LNG output by June this year.

North America

US – The proposed Constitution pipeline has been scrapped, lead developer Williams announced a week after recording a USD 354 million impairment on the project originally expected to cost ~USD 680 million.

Cheniere has confirmed that two customers have cancelled LNG cargoes for April as gas prices remain near all-time lows, but remained upbeat stating it does not expect “significant or prolonged curtailment of US LNG production”.

Venture Global has defied market conditions to become the first US LNG developer to conclude a long-term deal this year after French utility EDF signed a 20-year supply deal for 1 mtpa, sourced from the proposed Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana.

EQT Corporation has struck a new gas gathering deal with EQM Midstream Partners for acreage in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that will give the US shale giant much-needed relief from more than half a billion dollars in midstream fees.

US LNG hopeful Tellurian has extended the deadline for India’s largest LNG buyer Petronet to conclude a firm LNG offtake and equity investment in the proposed Driftwood LNG plant in Louisiana, by two months to 31 May.

Apache Corporation is abandoning its Alpine High shale play in the prolific Permian basin after recording a ~USD 3 billion writedown related to the project four years after the firm announced the discovery could hold 3 billion barrels of crude and 75 Tcf of gas.

A fracking ban might cost the US economy USD 7.1 trillion by 2030 and lead to the loss of 7.5 million US jobs in 2022 alone, according to a report from lobby group API, which is ramping up attacks on Democrats ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

South Asia

India – US duo ExxonMobil and Chart Industries netted the first energy-based deal during US president Donald Trump’s state visit to India by signing a letter of cooperation with Indian Oil on “pioneering virtual pipelines” to deliver LNG by road, rail and waterways.

H-Energy’s long-delayed floating LNG terminal at Jaigarh Port on India’s west coast appears ready to make a fresh attempt to start operations, with the GDF Suez Cape Ann FSRU set to arrive at the port last week.

Pakistan – Pakistan LNG is considering paying ~USD 300 million in fees to cancel LNG supply deals with Eni and Gunvor in a bid to find cheaper supply, according to Bloomberg, with Pakistan’s largest LNG buyer currently paying over double the current spot price.