LNG

The Kingdom of Jordan and Egypt have signed a wide-ranging energy cooperation agreement under which the Egyptians would be able to use the LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) berthed at the port of Aqaba.

A statement said that the FSRU would be at the disposal of Egypt during the remaining period of the vessel’s charter contract.

Jordan would still have flexibility to import occasional LNG cargoes while the FSRU is under contract to Jordan National Electric Power Corp. (NEPCO) until 2025.

the Jordanians started importing LNG in May 2015 when the 160,000 cubic metres capacity “Golar Eskimo” FSRU arrived at Aqaba.

The FSRU, now known as the “Energos Eskimo”, is currently operated by Energos, a joint venture owner of a small fleet of vessels and held be New York-based LNG player New Fortress Energy Inc. and the US Apollo infrastructure fund.

Proposals

The vessel at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Port in Aqaba can receive 500 million standard cubic feet per day with a peaking capacity of 750 million per day.

The Jordan-Egypt agreement followed a meeting in Amman between energy executives and ministers from both countries and analysts said that it signals the start of more regional Arab cooperation in natural gas infrastructure for economic development.

A Jordanian statement said that those in attendance included Amjad Rawashdeh, the Director General of Jordan’s NEPCO and Magdy Galal, the Chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

Others present included Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh and the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Mulla.

“The main objective of the agreement is to benefit from the resources of the two countries with higher efficiency at a lower cost, stressing that the use of the floating vessel in Aqaba will run until the end of its charter contract in late 2025, after which a coastal regasification facility would be completed,” said the statement.

Kharabsheh said that his Ministry was now in the process of issuing tenders for the new import terminal hub and that a perspective on how far the designs meet the needs of the two countries will be in place in the next two months.

Regional pipelines

The bilateral agreement is also part of a plan for Jordan to launch a national natural gas programme to supply industry and homes in Amman and the city of Zarqa backed by Egyptian investments

“Egypt has the expertise in domestic gas applications and will help to maximize Jordan's benefit in this field, and the Jordanian-Egyptian cooperation would be extended to implementing a number of other energy projects,” added the statement.

The agreement comes amid huge development plans for the East Mediterranean, including LNG exports by Israel and Cyprus’s Aphrodite field supplying feed gas to Egypt for liquefaction at an Egyptian plant.

Jordan is also an important market for Israel’s surplus gas and was the anchor for development of the first phase of the Leviathan gas project offshore Israel.

Gas connections

More use is expected to be made in the future of the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP), a 1,200-kilometre trans-regional gas pipeline originally built to carry natural gas from Egypt to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Another regional natural gas pipeline, the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline, supplies Egypt with Israeli gas from its East Med fields, Leviathan and Tamar.

The EMG pipeline runs from Ashkelon in Israel to El Arish in Egypt.

The AGP has four sections and the first section extends from El Arish to Aqaba. Its total length is 265 kilometres (164 miles), including a 15km offshore segment running under the Gulf of Aqaba.

The second section runs 390km from Aqaba to El Rehab, which is situated 30km from the Jordanian-Syrian borders.

The third section is 30km in length extending from Jordan (El Rehab) to Syria (Jabber).

The fourth section constitutes part of the gas network in Syria. It runs from Jabber (Syrian side of Jordanian-Syrian borders) to the Syrian-Turkish borders, ending in Lebanon. 

QatarEnergy, the leading LNG exporter and developer of major new liquefaction projects, has celebrated the graduation of a new group of Qatari nationals who have successfully completed their academic studies and training programmes to join the workforces of QatarEnergy and other companies in the sector.

QatarEnergy said there were 89 graduates this year who will be taking up positions at the Arabian Gulf nation’s impressive list of 10 companies that have sprung from its developing of the oil and gas chain and its continuing pioneering of cleaner energy technology.

The companies are: QatarEnergy, Qatargas, North Oil Company, Oryx GTL, Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO), Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO), Qatar Fuel Additives Company (QAFAC), Qatar Aluminium (QATALUM), Qatar Chemical Company Ltd (Q-Chem), Qatar Fuel (Woqod) - as well as Shell Qatar.

In a speech to the graduates Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and Chief Executive of QatarEnergy, said the event made him proud and able to reflect on his own journey in the energy sector and the role ambition and hard work that play a role in reaching the highest ranks.

“I am pleased to congratulate you and your families on your graduation and on taking your first professional steps in the energy sector of the State of Qatar,” said Al-Kaabi.

“You have gone a long way to reach this stage in your lives, and now you stand before an important opportunity to work and earn a successful future in which you develop yourselves and put the interest of Qatar above everything,” he told the graduates.

Expansions

Al-Kaabi said Qatari energy industry graduates will be much needed as the nation embarks on projects such as the North Field East and North Field South expansion projects.

The initial expansions will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum of LNG to 126 MTPA.

There will also be related projects to develop producing fields, petrochemicals, ammonia plants and other ventures.

“These are some of the projects that your companies are taking part in and in which many of you will find yourselves part of,” he explained.

“Therefore, you must have the ambition to reach your goals and to be the future leaders whom we can count on through your effort, sincerity, commitment and teamwork,” he added.

“Congratulations on your graduation, and I wish you all the very best,” declared Al-Kaabi.

At the end of the ceremony, the Minister and QatarEnergy chief handed certificates of appreciation to all graduates, along with symbolic gifts for outstanding graduates in their fields of specialization.

The ceremony was attended by many senior officials from QatarEnergy and energy sector companies.

QatarEnergy said that as part of its LNG expansion project it awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for the offshore portion of its North Field feed-gas project to Houston, Texas-based firm McDermott Inc.

The expansion project will increase the state of Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum to 126 MTPA, through the North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) development ventures with first LNG expected in 2025.

QatarEnergy explained that the scope for the contract includes 13 normally unmanned wellhead platforms topsides (eight for NFE and five for NFS), in addition to various connecting pipelines and the shore approaches for the NFE pipelines, beach valve stations and buildings.

The Qataris added that the jackets and the pipelines for the NFS Project will be subject to a separate tender which is expected to be awarded in the first half of 2022.

“The award of this major EPCI contract is a momentous milestone that demonstrates QatarEnergy’s commitment to delivering our LNG expansion projects on time and to ensure the significant additional global LNG demand is catered for in a timely manner,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and chief Executive of QatarEnergy.

“This contract also reinforces our excellent relationship with McDermott,” added Al-Kaabi.

“We are confident that the effective collaboration between QatarEnergy, Qatargas and McDermott will result in the safe and successful delivery of the project according to plan,” stated the CEO.

Al-Kaabi added that the QatarEnergy affiliate Qatargas, which has a proven history of delivering such major projects, has been entrusted with executing this mega project on behalf of QatarEnergy.​

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and appreciation to Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the CEO of Qatargas, and to both the Qatargas and QatarEnergy teams for their significant efforts and contributions that resulted in the successful and timely execution of this contract,” Al-Kaabi declared.

The scope of the first phase of the expansion at the Ras Laffan production complex involves an additional four Trains, each with 8.0 MTPA of output.

Qatar has the southern portion of the North Field in Gulf waters and the other part is under the jurisdiction of neighbouring Iran.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the longest-standing LNG producer in the Middle East for the United Arab Emirates, which is the third-largest oil producer in OPEC, is expected to proceed with an initial public offering of a stake in the ADNOC Drilling company with operations on land and sea.

Oman LNG, the second main exporter in the Middle East, has named a new Chief Executive to replace Harib Al-Kitani, the long-standing incumbent who has overseen the return of stable feed-gas supplies and the updating of facilities and strategy.

A statement from the board at the Arabian Peninsula-based company said Al-Kitani would be stepping down and his successor and new CEO was named as Hamed Al-Numani.

Oman exports around 11 million tonnes per annum and its annual dispatch of cargoes covers the main importing nations.

“With a long successful journey of four decades in the industry, Al-Kitani’s experience has contributed tremendously in shaping Oman LNG as a reliable and trusted supplier,” said the board.

Al-Kitani is a veteran of the Sultanate of Oman’s energy industry and has been at Oman LNG from its inception in the late 1990s, holding a series of high-level positions.

“We wish him all the best in his retirement and a big thank you for all he has done to drive our success,” the statement added.

His successor Hamed Al-Numani comes with 20 years of energy industry experience with projects in Europe and the US.

Oman LNG’s customers include South Korea with around 3.9MT of annual supplies, Japan with about 3MT as well as other leading importers like China and India.

Cargo buyers also include Taiwan, Pakistan and Thailand.

The Thai national energy company, PTT Exploration and Production Public Company, has recently agreed to take a 20 percent stake in Oman’s upstream natural gas resources from BP of the UK centred on the onshore Block 61 comprising the ‎Khazzan field, which began production in 2017, and the Ghazeer field, onstream since October 2020.

Block 61, covering around 3,950 square kilometres in central Oman, contains the largest tight-gas ‎development in the Middle East.

Gas from the Block is sent for domestic consumption ‎into Oman’s national gas grid, while also boosting the availability of feed-gas for Oman ‎LNG.

Oman has also planned under Al-Kitani to become a major LNG bunkering nation from its port at Sohar in cooperation with French major Total.

The main Omani LNG export facilities are at the port of Sur. The plant comprises the three amalgamated liquefaction Trains of two former separate companies, Oman LNG and Qalhat LNG.

Al-Kitani also initiated plans for a de-bottlenecking project, whereby better output can be achieved by fixing inefficiencies, both technical and operational, and increasing Oman’s LNG output to 11.5 MTPA or more.

Egypt said it expected to reopen the Damietta liquefied natural gas export plant east of the Port of Alexandria by the end of February 2021 after an eight-year closure caused by the Arab nation’s previous gas supply crunch.

“With Damietta back on stream with its 4.5 million tonnes per annum of output, Egyptian export volumes would total around 12.5 MTPA,” said the Petroleum and Mineral Resources  Ministry in a statement.

The move forward for Damietta comes after the resolution during the latter part of 2020 of a long-standing dispute between the shareholders over contracts because of the closure.

Naturgy, the Spain-based European utility, agreed to sell its stake in the Damietta plant and to rescind its Egyptian gas contracts on departing from the Unión Fenosa Gas (UFG) joint venture.

Naturgy’s UFG partners, Italian energy company Eni and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) reached the agreement under which Naturgy would receive a series of payments adding up to US$600 million.

The utility will also receive most of UFG’s assets outside of Egypt as well as being released from 3.5 billion cubic metres annual gas procurement contract to supply its gas-fired power stations in Spain, which was due to end 2029.

Settlement

Under the settlement deal, these Spanish interests would be taken over by Eni.

The LNG plant has been idle since November 2012 when Egypt suffered natural gas shortages.

In addition to Damietta LNG, Egypt has a second export plant, the Idku facility operated by Royal Dutch Shell, and which has been back in commercial operation since 2017.

As regards Damietta plant shareholdings, the Naturgy 80 percent in Damietta liquefaction was transferred with Eni receiving 50 percent and 30 percent going to EGAS.

The resulting shareholding of the Damietta holding company, Segas, sees Eni with 50 percent, EGAS holding 40 percent and Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. with 10 percent.

Eni will also take over the contract for the purchase of natural gas for the plant and will receive corresponding liquefaction rights.

Italian company Eni, one of the biggest energy players in Egypt, said it was trying to find an agreement to allow the restart of the idled Damietta LNG export facility, located east of Alexandria, and one of two Egyptian liquefaction facilities on the East Mediterranean coast.

Italian natural gas network operator Snam, one of Europe’s leading energy infrastructure companies, said it expected Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the Arab Gulf oil and gas company, to select a winner soon to run a liquefied natural gas import facility for which Italy’s grid operator has made a bid through a subsidiary.

Baker Hughes Company, the US energy services and LNG equipment supplier, has signed an agreement with Oman LNG for the turbomachinery scope as part of a de-bottlenecking project in the Arabian Peninsula nation.

KBR, the US engineering and LNG contractor, was awarded a major project management consultancy services contract for the Ghasha portfolio of gas projects by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the United Arab Emirates, the oldest LNG producer in the Middle East.