LNG

Sept 21 – Pakistan has arranged safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, following negotiations with Iran, allowing an LNG carrier loaded at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal to transit the strait over the weekend. According to ship-tracking data, the LNGC is expected to arrive in Pakistan by Tuesday.

Egypt and Turkey are poised to dominate the next phase of Eastern Mediterranean gas development as competition shifts from control of reserves to infrastructure. Egypt’s Idku and Damietta plants are the region’s only large-scale LNG export facilities, with 12 mtpa capacity combined, while replicating them would cost competitors $6 billion-$10 billion and take nearly a decade, analysts estimate.

TotalEnergies and Vietnam’s T&T Energy Group have agreed to establish a consortium to finance, build and operate the 1.5 GW Long Son LNG-fired power project in Ho Chi Minh City with a view to get the 1.5 GW plant into commercial operations by 2031.

Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras is in negotiations with Singapore-based shipbuilder Seatrium on ways to liquefy and export gas produced in Brazil’s giant deepwater Atlantic pre-salt fields, catering to rising demand from gas-fired power generators across Asia in a tight market.

Sempra Infrastructure has opened the FERC pre‑filing process for Port Arthur LNG North, a four‑train, 27 mtpa expansion of its Texas export terminal that could start shipping LNG in late 2034, if approved by the US energy regulator and financing is secured.

China’s state-owned oil and gas company CNOOC sees potential for an energy cooperation with the US, and would consider investing alongside US partners in future projects, a senior executive said, as signs of a thaw in trade relations emerge.

European gas prices at the Dutch TTF may need to top €100/MWh to attract enough flexible US LNG cargoes to refill storages ahead of the winter, Goldman Sachs analysts said.

Gasunie has warned the Netherlands will not meet its 115 TWh gas storage target for this winter. Storage is currently just 44-45% full, the lowest since 2009, as utilities shy away from buying LNG at current high prices.

The US Court of Appeals has removed a major legal obstacle to Venture Global’s CP2 LNG export terminal in Louisiana, upholding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the $28 billion project and its associated CP Express pipeline.

ADNOC Logistics and Services has exercised options to get two additional next-generation LNG carriers built at China’s Jiangnan shipyard, further expanding its fleet renewal programme. The two vessels, worth $444 million combined, are due for delivery in 2029.