LNG

Saipem, the Italian engineer for LNG, oil and pipeline gas subsea contracts, has been chosen to ensure the supervision and any subsea intervention services for the GreenStream gas pipeline linking Libya to Italy and the longest and deepest pipeline ever laid in the Mediterranean Sea.

GreenStream BV, a joint venture comprising Italian oil and gas major Eni and the Libyan National Oil Corporation, awarded the work to Saipem.

The GreenStream system conveys natural gas from coastal facilities at Mellitah in Libya to Gela on the Italian island of Sicily. 

Libya is a former LNG exporter but the Marsa el Brega LNG export plant was destroyed during the years of conflict in the North African nation.

The LNG facility was the third to start operations in 1970, after Alaska and Algeria, and exported 3.2 million tonnes per annum from four liquefaction Trains.

As part of the broader and revived Western Libyan Gas Project, GreenStream connects the Mellitah Compression Station, on the Libyan coast, with the receiving terminal in Gela in Sicily where Libyan gas arrives from two fields.

Libyan gas fields

The first gas field, Bahr Essalam, is offshore the Libyan coast and the second, the Wafa gas field, is located in the Libyan desert near the border with Algeria.

The Libya-Italy Mediterranean pipeline has a diameter of 32-inches and is around 520 kilometres (323 miles) long.

GreenStream crosses points near Malta and with waters depths reaching 1,127 metres.

The Gas Compression Station at Mellitah (MGCS) is beside the Gas Treatment Plant that compresses the gas to be exported and up to the pressure required for the entering the Italian Gas Transport Network.

Asset integrity

The latest contract awarded by GreenStream to Saipem is renewing a work programme in force since 2008 that included asset integrity, inspection, maintenance and emergency pipeline services.

“The activities will be managed by Saipem’s center of excellence for robotics, underwater technologies and services, and executed in coordination with the Saipem Engineering Hub located in Fano in Italy,” Saipem added.

“The scope of work streamlines the integrated management of survey data and critical spares, the provision of specialized engineering services related to asset integrity and readiness services for repair interventions in case of a wide range of damage scenarios,” Milan-based Saipem added.

Specifically, repair interventions in case of damage will be performed via a remotely operated repair system and qualified to operate in water depths of up to 2,200 metres.

“With this award Saipem will contribute to managing the integrity of a fundamental underwater infrastructure for the Italian energy supply system,” the company added.

“It also consolidates the long-term cooperation between Saipem and GreenStream BV, which in 2002 awarded the company a contract for the pipelaying of the said pipeline, a project thanks to which Saipem achieved the record for the deepest pipe-laying with anchors,” Saipem concluded.

Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, the UK’s Isle of Grain facility on the Medway River in Kent, has extended its capacity agreement with the Algerian national energy company Sonatrach.

Grain LNG, owned by a subsidiary of National Grid Plc, said a 10-year agreement was signed to extend the long-term storage and redelivery capacity of Sonatrach at the UK terminal from January 2029.

This is the first agreement signed for around 3 million tonnes per annum of capacity from Grain LNG’s competitive auction process which was launched in September 2023.

“The successful outcome of the auction further secures the future of Europe’s largest terminal into the next decade,” said the company.

The Grain LNG terminal, sited about 43 miles (69 kilometres) southeast of London, is currently expanding to store and deliver enough gas to meet up to 33 percent of UK gas demand.

Security

“This helps ensure the UK’s energy security as LNG imports play a critical role in making sure the UK has the gas it needs, when it needs it and providing a flexible and reliable supply to heat peoples’ homes and to complement the growth of renewable generation,” said Katie Jackson, President of National Grid Ventures, owner of the terminal.

“This agreement ensures that Grain will continue to have a diverse supplier base within the Atlantic Basin,” added Jackson.

“I am delighted that Sonatrach have once again shown a long-term commitment to our world-class site which UK consumers rely on, and I look forward to continuing our working relationship with them in the coming years,” she stated.

Mayouf Belgacem, Executive Vice President of Sonatrach, said LNG would continue to play a critical role in worldwide energy supply.

Algeria, the longest-standing global exporter of LNG supplies to Europe, operates two liquefaction and export plants at Skikda and Arzew on the Mediterranean Coast.

“We have expressed our willingness to strengthen our position as a long-term partner of Grain LNG and as a substantial contributor to UK gas security of supply,” Belgacem explained.

Guaranteed access

“Besides, this agreement offers Sonatrach guaranteed access to Europe’s largest terminal which helps line up Sonatrach’s long-term marketing strategy by diversifying its markets,” said the Sonatrach executive .

The Isle of Grain terminal had launched its auction for 9 MTPA of existing capacity and Sonatrach has now been a leading beneficiary.

There is also an expansion project underway at the UK facility that will see LNG storage at the terminal increase in 2025 to around 1.2 million cubic metres.

In the past 12 months the UK terminal has unloaded almost 120 carriers originating from multiple countries.

In addition to Algerian volumes, the terminal has received cargoes from the US, Qatar, Angola, Nigeria, Norway, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.

Grain LNG, as part of the National Grid Ventures subsidiary, operates outside of National Grid’s core regulated businesses in the UK.

National Grid Ventures has a diverse portfolio including subsea electricity interconnectors, competitive transmission, wind and solar generation, battery storage as well as the Grain LNG storage and regasification infrastructure.

Sept 14 (LNGJ) - The Med-class LNG carrier “Cheikh El Mokrani” with 73,990 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to deliver an Algerian cargo on September 18 to the UK Isle of Grain LNG import terminal on the Medway River in Kent, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on September 11 from the Skikda liquefaction plant on Algeria’s Mediterranean coast.

Italian energy major Eni has delivered the first commercial liquefied natural gas shipment to the nation’s fourth import terminal at the Tuscan port of Piombino.

Offshore Energies UK, the leading trade body for the UK’s offshore oil and gas and energy industries with 400 members, has welcomed Rishi Sunak’s appointment as the nation’s next Prime Minister.

“Sunak must refocus attention on the crucial issues facing the nation, including helping people pay their winter energy bills and keeping the lights on in the face of Europe-wide gas shortages,” said the UK body about the new Conservative Party leader.

“In the longer term he must deal with the challenges of fuelling the future, including using the gas and oil remaining in the UK’s offshore waters to provide energy during the transition to low carbon,” added OEUK.

It pointed out that last year oil and gas accounted for 75 percent of the UK’s energy needs.

Last year the British consumed 78 billion cubic metres of gas, or the equivalent of 58 million tonnes of LNG, the output of four of the largest US LNG export plants.

Annual UK gas consumption amounted to 1,100 cubic metres per person. 

Oil and gas needs

The UK needed to import 11.05 million tonnes of LNG last year to help meet its needs, just behind Europe’s two largest LNG buyers, Spain with 13.85MT and France with 12.35MT.

Around 80 percent of UK households, or 24 million homes, rely on natural gas for heating and on average about 42 percent of all UK electricity is produced by burning gas.

As regards the nation’s oil needs, the UK consumed 55 million tonnes of oil and oil products in 2021, equivalent to 0.8 tonnes per person.

On UK roads, 32 million cars and trucks rely on gasoline and diesel for their fuel and require 22 million tonnes per annum of diesel and 10MT a year of gasoline.

“We wish Rishi Sunak the best. We are already in very challenging times and energy is at the top of the agenda. Global energy prices are rising, and UK consumers face surging bills at the coldest time of year,” said Deirdre Michie, OEUK’s Chief Executive.

“OEUK’s members are protecting the UK from many of the worst impacts of those shortages by producing energy for the whole nation,” she added.

“They will keep doing that in the tough times ahead. We work with politicians of all parties, now including Mr Sunak’s administration, and we look forward to meeting him and his team,” she added.

“When we do, we will be making a powerful case around the need for stability in the fiscal and regulatory regimes governing the UK’s offshore sector,” explained Michie.

“The UK needs to secure billions of pounds for offshore investments if it is to keep producing the gas, oil and offshore wind, plus other low-carbon energies, needed for future growth and productivity,” she declared.

The largest European LNG import terminal, the UK Isle of Grain facility located southeast of London, has called on the market to participate in an expression of interest exercise for capacity.

Grain LNG has issued a statement inviting market participants to express an interest in low-cost capacity at the facility from 2029.

Applicants will have until August 15, 2022, to submit a non-binding declaration of their interest in capacity at Grain LNG.

“This is an opportunity for the market to indicate the quantities and duration of the contracts they would like, enabling Grain LNG to determine the best way to proceed and the capacity products to offer,” said the company.

Grain LNG, a subsidiary of the UK’s London Stock Exchange-listed National Grid plc, explained that it had a series of existing capacity contracts coming to an end over the course of 2029.

As a result, Grain LNG expects to be able to offer at least 360,000 cubic metres of storage and 300 gigawatt hours per day of regasification capacity for start-up in 2029.

Short-term contracts

“As the capacity already exists, this will enable Grain LNG to uniquely offer short-term contracts of five years or more and should result in significantly lower cost capacity versus new build terminals,” the company explained.

Nicola Duffin, Commercial Director at Grain LNG, said that LNG represented an ever more vital component in the UK and global energy mix and supported security of supply.

“This looks set to continue in the context of the wider market. LNG is also an important balancing tool for intermittent renewables,” added Duffin.

“The EOI provides a great opportunity to gauge market needs and help us to develop the packages and product offerings that meet those requirements,” she stated.

Grain LNG explained that once the application window closes, responses will be assessed, the product offering finalised and the need for an auction will be determined.

“Any auction plans must gain Ofgem (regulatory) approval and are subject to a market consultation before the binding auction phase can be launched,” said Duffin.

Grain LNG in addition to being the largest regasification terminal in Europe is also the only one in the UK able to process the full global range of LNG.

As a completely independent operator, Grain provides 40 percent of the UK’s LNG capacity, offering two entry points to the National Balancing Point gas market and cost-effective access to Northwest Europe.

Grain LNG already has plans for up to 300 gigawatt hours per day, or around 7.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG, of redelivery capacity and 380,000 cubic metres of associated storage, to be made available from mid-2025.

The expansion will increase the size of storage at the terminal, located on the Isle of Grain in Kent on the Thames-Medway estuaries, to about 1.2 million cubic metres.

Grain LNG also offers reloads, trans-shipments and a multi-bay facility for reloading road tankers and ISO containers.

Discussions have taken place in the Algerian capital Algiers between the Chief Executive of Italian oil and gas company, Claudio Descalzi and Algeria’s Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane, the country's Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab and Algerian energy company Sonatrach's CEO Toufik Hakkar.

The chief executives of Italian energy company Eni and Algerian LNG, pipeline natural gas and oil group Sonatrach have signed an accord related to the North African nation’s onshore Berkine Basin.

Sonatrach CEO Toufik Hakkar and his Eni counterpart Claudio Descalzi, signed the deal in the presence of the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab and Italian Ambassador to Algeria Giovanni Pugliese.

“Eni and Sonatrach also signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on initiatives in the energy transition,” said a statement.

“The agreements are testimony to the commitment of Sonatrach and Eni to continue the shared strategy of accelerated project development,” said Eni CEO Descalzi.

The Algerian Government noted that the Berkine Basin contract was the first ever signed under the aegis of the new Algerian oil law and covers an area of 7,880 square kilometres in the southern part of the Berkine Basin, in close proximity to the company's current production assets.

More E&P

Descalzi and Hakkar stated that they shared the commitment to create an ambitious exploration and development programme in the area.

“In the first phase, the project envisages the fast-tracked development of reserves estimated at 135 million barrels of oil equivalent, with a start-up of production expected by the end of 2022,” it added.

“This project will enhance synergies with existing plants. The entry into force of the new contract is subject to approval by the competent Algerian authorities,” they stated.

Eni has been present in Algeria since 1981 and is the operator of various permits with an equity production in the country of 95,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Eni also recently agreed earlier in December 2021 to sell a minority stake in two pipelines involved in transporting natural gas from Algeria to Italy for €385 million ($435M) to Italian LNG terminal and gas grid operator Snam.

Eni said that deal involved Snam purchasing a 49.9 percent stake in the onshore gas pipelines running from Algeria to the Tunisia border and the Tunisia coast (TTPC), and the offshore gas pipelines connecting the Tunisian coast to Italy (TMPC).

Eni said the transaction would create synergies in the respective areas of expertise in gas transport on a strategic route for the security of the natural gas supply to Italy.

Snam said the deal consolidated Snam’s central role in Italy’s security of supply as well as in energy transport from the Mediterranean region.

Snam operates the gas grid and the onshore Panigaglia facility in the northwest near Genoa as well as having a 49 percent stake in the LNG facility, the “FSRU Toscana”, which is deployed off the Italian west coast.

Sept 13 (LNGJ) - Sonatrach, the state-owned Algerian supplier of pipeline natural gas to Europe and LNG cargoes from its Arzew and Skikda export plants, has issued a new code of ethics to achieve more transparency.

   “The Group's ethics are reflected first and foremost in our commitment to conduct our activities with integrity, transparency, fairness and excellence to enable our company to accomplish its mission in the service of the development and prosperity of the country,” stated Chief Executive Toufik Hakkar. “This code is the fruit of a collective reflection around the values and principles which should guide our behavior and inspire our decisions, in order to strengthen the confidence of stakeholders,” added Hakkar.

Predator Oil and Gas, the Jersey-based company listed on the London Stock Exchange and with operations in Trinidad, Morocco and Ireland, said it submitted a bid to supply and operate a floating LNG import terminal in Morocco after the North African kingdom’s Energy Ministry invited bids with a deadline of May 31.