LNG

The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan with some of the world’s largest oil and gas fields on its territory and part of an infrastructure network with Russia to supply natural gas to China in competition to LNG, is boosting its own domestic gas output as well as its role as a gas transit nation.

Seatrium of Singapore, a leading global company in repairing, upgrading or refitting LNG carriers, has signed another favoured customer contract - this time with Teekay Shipping in Australia.

Seatrium said that this latest Teekay agreement was its first with a leading ship management company for the repairs and upgrades of a fleet of vessels under its Australia Defence Maritime Support Services Program (DMSSP).

The contract, which includes the refit of a series of vessels over the next two years, will see Seatrium collaborating closely with Teekay in joint planning, information sharing, and leveraging mutual experience to facilitate the successful execution of these projects.

The Singaporean company earlier in July 2024 signed an FCC with the Angelicoussis Group, the largest shipping line in Greece and one of the world’s largest privately-owned fleets with 141 ships operating under Maran Gas, Maran Tankers and Maran Dry.

Seatrium said that two-year contract with a one-year renewal option included the refit of 10 to 15 vessels per year comprising LNG carriers, tankers and bulk carriers.

Korean accord

This followed a previous FCC in May 2024 with a South Korean shipping company, Hyundai LNG Shipping, marking the first long-term strategic partnership agreement with a Korean LNG transporter for the repairs and upgrades of its LNG carriers.

That contract included the refit of a series of LNG carriers over the next two years.

The Teekay Australia accord was signed between Tony Armstrong, Managing Director of Teekay Australia, and Alvin Gan, Executive Vice President, Repairs and Upgrades at Seatrium.

Seatrium is attracting global shipping and energy companies because of its offering of one-stop repair and upgrade solutions for all types of vessels and offshore structures.

We develop strong relationships with our clientele to offer vessel owners highly customised and proactive solutions for all vessel repairs and upgrades, including energy efficiency.

Strategic partnership

Peter Iuliano, Head of Operations of Teekay Shipping Australia, said this strategic partnership marked a significant move for the company.

“By collaborating with Seatrium, we aim to enhance our operational efficiency and instil the highest standards of quality, safety, and environmental sustainability in the maintenance of our specialised vessels,” explained Iuliano

“Our first vessel under the Favoured Customer Contract agreement scheduled for repairs in Seatrium’s Admiralty Yard in Singapore is in July 2024, with six more dockings planned. We look forward to a fruitful and successful partnership with Seatrium,” he declared.

Seatrium executive Gan said that his company was delighted to be chosen as the strategic partner for Teekay’s Australian operations.

“This agreement not only highlights our expertise in specialised repairs for naval and maritime security related projects, but also demonstrates our dedication to delivering excellence and customised solutions to our partners,” Gan stated.

Temasek, the Singapore wealth fund that recently sold all liquefied natural gas interests to Shell, plans to focus on investing in Chinese companies with large domestic sales sales rather than those that depend on foreign markets.

July 5 (LNGJ) - The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a warning to the nation on East Coast natural gas supplies and the trend for LNG exports. “The long-term supply outlook for gas makes shortfalls possible from 2027,” said the report.

   “The East Coast gas market may experience gas supply shortfalls as early as 2027 unless new sources of supply are made available. The potential emergence of supply shortages is one year earlier than previously reported,” the ACCC warned. The short-term outlook concluded that there was “sufficient gas” for the fourth-quarter of 2024 and early 2025. “There is expected to be enough gas to meet East Coast demand, even if all un-contracted gas of LNG producers is exported,” the report added.

Conrad Asia Energy, an Australian-listed natural gas exploration and production company, has entered into a binding gas sales agreement for the domestic portion of the Mako gas field in Indonesia and with an option to sell the balance of the pipeline gas to LNG importer Singapore.

Conrad has signed the agreement to sell domestic gas to Perusahaan Gas Negara (PNG), the gas utility subsidiary of Pertamina, the national oil and gas company of Indonesia.

The ASX-listed company said the deal with PGN for gas from the Mako gas field, in which Conrad has a 76.5 percent participating interest, is an important step in the commercialisation of the largest undeveloped gas field in the West Natuna Sea.

PGN is Indonesia’s largest gas company and a separate GSA is being negotiated with Singaporean parties for the remainder of the Mako gas resource to be exported by pipeline to the Asian city state.

Singapore pipeline

The West Natuna Sea gas gathering system is already connected to Singapore.

However, PGN is proceeding with constructing a tie-in pipeline to the island of Batam across the Malacca Strait that will connect the Natuna Sea volumes to the Indonesian market.

It was noted by Conrad that completion of both GSAs would be significant landmarks on the path to a final investment decision for the Mako project targeted for the fourth quarter of 2024.

Conrad said it was moving towards finalising a GSA for the Mako export gas for Singapore over the coming few weeks.

The gas will supply Singapore through an existing pipeline in competition to the LNG cargoes delivered to the Jurong Island LNG terminal.

UK company Empyrean Plc is also a shareholder in the project. The Mako field contains contingent resources of 376 billion cubic feet of which 21 Bcf are net attributable to Empyrean.

Long-term supplier

The West Natuna Sea gas fields have been supplying Singapore with natural gas for more than two decades and the Mako project is expected to continue this supply for at least another 10 years from 2026.

In addition to the significance for the Mako development, Conrad said that the accord builds an important platform for Conrad with Indonesia’s national companies.

Conrad said it would continue to grow its business relationship with PGN through its other discovered gas resources offshore Aceh and related to which the two parties signed an accord in February 2024.

“Our focus has been finalising the underwriting gas sales agreements between the Mako Joint Venture, the Indonesian Government and Regulator and Singapore,” said Conrad Chief Executive Miltos Xynogalas.

“These agreements are the essential documents that demonstrate financial viability of the project, which in turn underwrite value and financial sustainability,” the CEO added.

Japanese trading house Mitsui and Company Ltd, has purchased more shale-gas assets in Texas and plans to bring them to full-scale development and production as possible feed-gas supplies for LNG output.

Tamboran Resources, an exploration and production company currently valued at A$391.5 million (US$258M) on the Australian Securities Exchange, is launching an initial public offering of shares in the US for shale-gas assets in Australia’s equivalent of the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast US.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports went into reverse last month and fell by more than 7 percent even as prices declined and more regasification infrastructure was put in place, while the need for imports was offset by growth in domestic gas output, including coal-bed methane.

Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company impacted by sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is trying to rebuild its business by signing deals for gas transportation exits via the three Central Asian former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as well as its neighbour across the Black Sea, Turkey.

Gazprom has just signed contracts with Kazakhstan for gas transit to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The documents were signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum held by the Russians.

Gazprom has ambitious plans to ramp up gas supplies to Central Asia and Turkey.

The company aims to deliver significantly larger volumes via the Central Asia-China Pipeline for 15 years starting in 2025. 

The Central Asia-China pipeline is a network of natural gas pipelines that transport natural gas from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan into China.

With a 55 billion cubic metres capacity, the same as the now defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany, the 1,833-kilometres (1,140 miles) Central Asia-China Pipeline presently comprises three sections (Lines A, B, and C), running from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China’s Uygur Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

From there, the pipeline links up with the West-to-East Gas Pipeline in China, underscoring its significance in regional energy dynamics.

Gazprom added that it had also signed a contract for the supply of gas to the north and south of Kyrgyzstan.

Larger volumes

In addition, Gazprom and Kazakhstan signed an action plan to prepare gas facilities in Central Asia to increase the transportation of Russian gas to Uzbekistan.

In June 2023, Uzbekistan concluded a two-year gas purchase agreement with Gazprom.

The daily supply volume is 9 million cubic metres and the annual volume is almost 2.8 billion cubic metres and deliveries started in October 2023.

From November 2025, Gazprom said it planned to begin supplying “significantly larger volumes” covered by 15-year contracts with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In February 2024, it was reported that the government of Uzbekistan intends to upgrade the republic’s main gas system in order to increase gas imports from the Russian Federation by 3.5 times from 9 million cubic metres per day to 32 mcm per day.

BOTAŞ venture

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar was also at the Russian Forum and said the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) planned to set up a joint venture company with Gazprom as part of a plan to establish a hub in Turkey for selling natural gas.

“Significant work has been done in recent years to establish a natural gas trading centre in Turkey,” said Bayraktar.

“We are now planning to establish an operating company in partnership with BOTAŞ and Gazprom in Istanbul,” he added.

“In the coming months, we would like to carry out concrete work and realise the gas hub project,” stated Bayraktar.

A South Korean trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates has been signed in Seoul and included a future order for at least six LNG carriers from the UAE and a pledge of $30 billion of investments in Korean industries.