LNG

Trafigura Group, a market leader in the global commodities industry including LNG, petroleum and other products has closed a new 365-day European multi-currency syndicated revolving credit facilities to be well positioned to manage potential bouts of volatility.

Enbridge Inc, the Canadian-based pipelines and energy company, swung to a fourth-quarter profit from a previous loss and more than doubled annual profits as pipeline natural gas and liquids distributions increased amid the purchase of a gas utilities portfolio.

TC Energy and Pembina Pipeline, the North American energy infrastructure and LNG project companies, have entered into a carbon-sequestration evaluation agreement with the Canadian provincial government of Alberta to further evaluate one of the largest areas of interest for safely storing carbon from industrial emissions.

Canadian company Énergir and the Québec Port Authority have completed their 100th liquified natural gas re-fuelling operation as the French-speaking province embraces maritime bunkering, though rejects LNG production for export.

“This major achievement is a testament to both companies’ leadership to supply the maritime industry in LNG, and to their expertise in bunkering operations in Canada,” said Énergir, the main gas distribution company in the province.

The bunkering takes place in or around the port of Québec City, which sits on the Saint Lawrence River and is the oldest Canadian port and the second-largest after Montreal.

The LNG bunkering station, implemented by Énergir’s subsidiary, Gaz Métro Transport Solutions in 2018, is available to all shipowners passing through.

“These 100 LNG bunkers completed at the Port of Québec have supplied five vessels owned by Desgagnés, a Québec shipowner that has shown great vision in adopting LNG as a marine fuel and who also actively participated in the implementation of the bunkering system,” said Énergir.

The Desgagnés fleet includes cargo shipping, ferries and tankers with more LNG-powered vessels being added in the future.

Énergir noted that LNG as a maritime fuel was expanding in North. America to meet new emissions standards in ports.

“This solution is one of the concrete actions included in the Port of Québec’s Sustainable Development Action Plan, which aims to develop maritime trade by adopting environmentally friendly practices while favoring transitional energy,” added Énergir.

“Being one of the best sources of energy available to shipowners on the market, LNG is experiencing significant growth and is recognized elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe,” stated the company.

Énergir is also present in the US where it generates electricity from renewable sources, while serving as the leading electricity distributor and the sole natural gas supplier in the northeast US state of Vermont.

Pembina Pipeline Corp., developer of the now blocked Jordan Cove LNG export plant in the US northwest state of Oregon, took a hit in its fourth-quarter earnings after the project was the first hydrocarbon venture stopped by the Biden Administration, though Pembina said Jordan Cove and two other ventures remained in its strategy.

US major ConocoPhillips has agreed to acquire additional acreage in the Montney Shale in northeast British Columbia held by Kelt Exploration (LNG) Ltd. of Calgary for C$510 million (US$380M) in cash, giving a current valuation in a prolific oil and natural gas area that was once a centre of multiple plans for LNG exports.

GNL Quebec Inc. is still planning an export project in the French-speaking Canadian province, comprising a liquefaction and export plant near Port Saguenay at the junction of the Saguenay River and the St. Lawrence River.

The company said its LNG proposals were still on track as it filed with the Canadian National Energy Board on January 8 as an interested party in the North Bay Junction fixed-price natural gas delivery service of TransCanada Corp.

The GNL Quebec LNG project is known as Energie Saguenay and is backed by two equity firms based on the West Coast of the US.

They are Breyer Capital of Menlo Park, California, and Freestone International from San Francisco.

“GNL Quebec wishes to participate in the North Bay Junction proceedings as the issues to be addressed are material to its Energie Saguenay LNG export project, which is planned to be in service by 2025,” it told the Board.

The Quebec liquefaction facility proposes to export up to 11 million tonnes per annum of LNG to Europe, Asia and South America.

“An integral part of the project is procuring gas supply with terms of up to 20 years from Western Canadian producers and finalizing long-term transportation arrangements on the TransCanada Canadian Mainline to supply the project facility in Quebec,” GNL Quebec told the Board.

“GNLQ plans to receive firm service transportation in 2025 from Empress to Ramore, which is a proposed delivery point located near North Bay Junction,” the Board was told.

“Substantial capacity will be requested of up to 1.6 billion cubic feet per day, and commercial discussions have been initiated with TransCanada for this service,” it explained.

“At Ramore, the proposed Gazoduc Pipeline will interconnect with the Mainline and transport gas on its 42-inch pipeline,” it added.

“Gazoduc will extend 750km across northern Ontario and Quebec to Chicoutimi, Quebec where the LNG project will be located,” said GNL Quebec.

The developers of the Gazoduc pipeline filed their pre-application project description with the NEB on November 20, 2018, and their project notice with Quebec’s Ministry of Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change (MELCC).

GNL Quebec said it expected its project economics and the gas transportation service will be substantially impacted by the issues that are considered and decided in the North Bay Junction proceedings, including the terms of service, tolls, tolling structure and the availability of Mainline capacity.

“For example, the availability of capacity across the Prairies and the Northern Ontario Line in the 2025 timeframe when the project commences service may well be impacted by the proposed new service,” explained Quebec GNL.

“The Board may wish to consider whether the terms and conditions approved will contribute to efficient system expansion and non-discriminatory treatment of new shippers willing to subscribe for firm service in the same timeframe and over the same path as the new service,” it added.

Canada will import more shale gas from the US by the eastern route, potentially straight to the federal capital Ottawa, from where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has led the regulatory onslaught against the hydrocarbon industry.