European liquefied natural gas terminal stakeholders and network operators in Spain, Italy and Belgium have formally acquired majority control of the Greek gas grid operator sold in a tender by the government privatization agency.
The Papua New Guinea LNG plant, operated by ExxonMobil Corp. under a joint venture with several other companies and the government, has signed a medium-term sales agreement to supply Chinese import terminals owned by PetroChina.
Chevron Corp., the US major and leading LNG plant operator, was granted a motion to dismiss a global-warming lawsuit filed against it by the City of New York because it is the responsibility of Congress and the executive branch of government to oversee greenhouse-gas emissions rather than individual companies.
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports plunged last month along with imports of thermal coal for power generation with only LNG shipments from the Middle East remaining stable as all other regions except Russia showed a decline in cargoes.
Singapore LNG cargo indices eased to just over US$9.00 per million British thermal units, with North Asia stronger at around $9.50 per MMBtu as front-month crude oil prices came off recent highs.
Chart Industries, the US manufacturer of engineered equipment for the industrial LNG, natural gas and energy industries reported a 34 percent rise in second-quarter sales and the orders included air-cooled heat-exchangers for a large LNG project.
Japanese natural gas market analysts have returned from meetings in the US with the impression that supply-side companies have restored their bullishness about the gas market as sentiment has turned around because business conditions have grown brighter in the wake of crude oil prices staying above $70 per barrel.
Kinder Morgan, the US pipeline and terminals company, said its LNG export project at Elba Island near Savannah in the state of Georgia is running slightly behind schedule, though a start-up is anticipated for the fourth quarter of 2018.
Australian LNG producer Woodside Petroleum made progress in the second quarter on a plan to process third-party feed-gas through the North West Shelf LNG plant in Western Australia as the ramp-up of the new Wheatstone facility continued along with other expansion and distribution plans.
Santos, the Australian stakeholder in three Asia-Pacific LNG production plants, reported strong first-half revenue growth even as an earthquake in February shut the ExxonMobil-run Papua New Guinea plant and scheduled maintenance closed the Darwin facility, operated by ConocoPhillips.