Saudi Arabian energy major, Aramco has confirmed that it is to create an LNG business that is tied to trading and can fully realise offtake value.
Speaking to the media following the release of the third quarter results, in which Aramco reported $27.6 bill net income (down from $32.6 bill on 3Q23), Ziad Al-Murshed, Executive Vice-President and CFO, said, “We are ramping up LNG trading capability to be able to capture this value from the portfolio.
“We do look at it as one business. We’ve earmarked a considerable volume of gas that’s coming out of production for blue ammonia and blue hydrogen, and that will only proceed if we get commercial long term offtakes.
“We continue to work on discussions with potential offtakers for blue ammonia – unless this is tied to long term commercial offtake we’re not able to proceed with these projects. We will have a much better view towards the end of the year,” he said.
Aramco confirmed it had made a further investment in MidOcean Energy to fund its acquisition of an additional 15% interest in Peru LNG (PLNG), increasing MidOcean’s stake in PLNG from 20% to 35%.
In June, Aramco and Sempra, through their respective subsidiaries, executed a non-binding heads of agreement (HoA) for a 20-year sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for LNG offtake of 5 mill tonnes per annum from the Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 expansion project.
Through its group capability and knowhow, natural gas feedstock for ammonia, and carbon capture sequestration expertise, Aramco is in a sweet spot with blue ammonia and blue hydrogen, he claimed.
On renewables, Aramco has a pipeline of projects totalling 12 GW by 2030, with 5.5 GW reaching financial close.
“We are more than a third of the way of meeting our 2030 target. We’re looking to take renewable credits and utilise those towards our ambition of Net Zero by 2050,” he said.
