LNG

Feb 7 (LNGJ) - UK company Centrica Plc and Spanish oil and gas major Repsol have signed an agreement for Centrica to purchase 1 million tonnes of LNG shipments between 2025 and 2027. Centrica said that all of these cargoes were expected to be delivered to the UK Grain LNG import terminal in Kent. “The deal marks an additional move by Centrica to build further resilience in the UK’s energy security,” said Centrica Energy, the UK company’s trading unit.

   “It follows a 15-year, $8Bln LNG deal with Delfin Midstream in July 2023, a three-year (pipelines) supply agreement with Equinor through to 2024 and the reopening and expansion of the UK’s Rough gas storage facility,” said Centrica. Cassim Mangerah, the managing director of Centrica Energy, said he was delighted to have closed this deal. “One of the key pillars of our successful and growing LNG business is our partnership approach. Our new deal with Repsol will complement the Atlantic leg of our diversified and flexible portfolio,” stated Mangerah.

Centrica Plc, the UK owner of the British Gas utility business and an LNG importer, has released stored gas into the grid from the Rough Gas Storage system for the first time this winter season.

Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, the UK’s Isle of Grain facility on the Medway River in Kent, has launched a consultation to auction 9 million tonnes per annum of existing capacity.

Centrica plc, the UK owner of the British Gas utility business and an liquefied natural gas importer, said in a trading update that it continued to deliver a “strong operational performance” from its balanced portfolio.

Equinor, the Norwegian major and the UK’s Centrica, owner of the British Gas utility, have signed a deal for the delivery of more Norwegian pipeline natural gas over the next three winters and the accord will slightly lessen the need for more LNG deliveries to UK terminals.

National Grid Plc, the owner and operator of Europe’s largest LNG import terminal at the Isle of Grain southeast of London and which came on line 16 years ago, has launched an engineering project to safely extend the life-span of the facility's assets.

Sept 30 (LNGJ) - Centrica, the UK utility and LNG market participant, has agreed to sell LNG to China under a long-term contract. The binding 15-year Sales and Purchase Agreement is for 500,000 tonnes per annum of supplies to the Shenergy Group. Deliveries are expected to start in 2024.

“We are delighted to conclude this agreement with Shenergy. The roots of our shared history date back over 150 years, to when British Gas helped install gas lighting in the streets of Shanghai,” said Chris O’Shea, Centrica’s Chief Executive. “This deal is a new milestone for our companies and complements Centrica’s existing portfolio of LNG positions and contracts,” added the CEO.

Calor, the UK's leading retail supplier of liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) with 350,000 commercial customers located off the main gas grid, is building up its loading volumes from National Grid Plc’s import terminal on the Isle of Grain in Kent.

Calor has just announced the loading of its 1,200th LNG truck, which equates to more than 24,000 tonnes of LNG, supplied across the length and breadth of the UK.

“The truck-loading facility on the Isle of Grain, which is located 43 miles east of London, opened in 2015, and Calor was the first LNG supplier to load and deliver to its extensive UK LNG customer base, which ranges from large off-grid industrial applications (including food & beverage and pharmaceutical) to vehicle refuelling, to name a few,” said Calor.

Grain LNG also offers reloads, trans-shipments and other services such as reloading road tankers and ISO containers.

The National Grid subsidiary additionally has plans for a marine breakbulk facility.

Mark Gilks, Calor LNG National Account Manager, said his company was committed to delivering fuel to its customers, especially throughout the current crisis as the UK uses cleaner and greener fuel sources.

“By using LNG instead of more polluting fuels such as oil and diesel derivatives, we have helped UK businesses cut their CO2 emissions by up to 25 percent over the past five years, based on the loadings from the Isle of Grain alone,” said Gilks.

“LNG-powered trucks have comparable performance to diesel vehicles in terms of power, acceleration and cruising speed, but can cut CO2 by between 10 percent and 20 percent, dependeing on duty cycle and vehicle type,” he added.

“LNG also takes up 600 times less space than conventional natural gas making it easy to transport and store compactly in its liquid form,” stated Gilks.

The Calor executive said that the company was grateful to its operational team who have kept on going, particularly over the last few months.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we have achieved and keen to see where the next five years will take us, as we do our bit to promote the use of cleaner energy sources nationwide,” explained Gilks.

The Isle of Grain facility is the largest import terminal in Europe. It has also just launched the second phase of an on-going open season during which the market is invited to make bids with less than a month before the deadline.

Grain LNG is offering up to 300 gigawatt hours per day (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.

An expansion will increase the size of the terminal, situated on the Thames-Medway estuary, to about 1.2 million cubic metres.

Centrica plc, the UK utility and energy company with a growing LNG market presence including booked volumes from the US and Mozambique, has confirmed Chris O’Shea in his post of Chief Executive.

O’Shea, the former Chief Financial Officer, had initially been named as interim CEO on March 17 while a search got underway for a permanent successor to Iain Conn, who had stepped down as scheduled as CEO and from the Board.

A new Chairman, Scott Wheway, had also been named in March when incumbent Chairman Charles Berry, who has been on medical leave since the 12th of February 2020, tendered his resignation for health reasons.

Centrica, owner of the utility company British Gas, has established strong LNG capabilities over the past few years, including having a cooperation agreement with Japanese utility Tokyo Gas.

Centrica and Tokyo Gas have co-purchased offtake of delivered ex-ship (DES) supplies amounting to 2.6 million tonnes per annum for 20 years from the proposed Total-led Mozambique LNG export plant in southeast Africa.

Centrica additionally has a 20-year contract for volumes from Train 5 at Sabine Pass on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, giving it destination rights for the cargoes and a purchase price indexed to the US benchmark Henry Hub price.

The UK company holds regasification capacity at Europe’s largest import terminal, the Isle of Grain facility on the River Medway-Thames estuary in Kent.

In addition, LNG fleet owner GasLog recently received a newbuild carrier that will be chartered to Centrica for its growing LNG activities.

The 180,000 cubic metres capacity vessel, named “GasLog Windsor”, was constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries on South Korea.

“In the last few weeks since my appointment I have completed a review of both the internal and external candidates for this role and have come to the conclusion that Chris is comprehensively the best candidate for Centrica," said Chairman Wheyway in making the announcement.

"I’m delighted to appoint him to the role on a permanent basis,” he added.

“The Board is confident that he is the right leader to navigate Centrica through and beyond the present Covid-19 crisis focusing on the welfare of our colleagues and customers, the financial resilience of the company and the agility to move quickly when we emerge from these unprecedented circumstances,” said the Chairman.

O’Shea said it was a huge honour to be appointed to lead Centrica.

“The company has a long history of serving customers and having strong market positions. Over recent years it has built the capabilities to help our customers transition to a low carbon future,” he added.

“Beyond this present emergency our focus will be on creating value for all of our stakeholders through delivering growth in our customer-facing businesses, the structural simplification of the group, and building on the undoubted strengths and capabilities we have in our people and our businesses today,” stated the CEO.

O’Shea’s remuneration package will consist of a basic salary and variable incentive arrangements.

The key changes to his current arrangements are a base salary of £775,000 ($974,200) and a reduction from a 15 percent to 10 percent pension contribution.

The company has commenced a search for a new CFO since O’Shea won’t be returning to the post.

GasLog Ltd., the LNG fleet owner based in the Greek port of Piraeus with a total fleet of 35 vessels split with its US affiliate, has taken delivery of its latest carrier built in South Korea and chartered to UK utility Centrica plc.

The 180,000 cubic metres capacity vessel, named “GasLog Windsor”, was constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries.  It has X-DF propulsion, a combination of gas and diesel. and a Mark III Flex containment system from French technology firm GTT.

“Despite the industrial disruption in South Korea caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, the vessel was delivered on time and on budget,” said GasLog.

Centrica has US volumes from the US Gulf Coast and regasification capacity at the UK Isle of Grain terminal, located southeast of London. The UK utility also has cargoes booked from the Mozambique LNG project.

The company gave an operational update and said they remained focused on securing the health and safety of their employees, while also ensuring safe and reliable operations for their customers and the global natural gas supply chain.

As regards its fleet numbers, 19 carriers are owned by GasLog, 13 on the water and six on order, while one has been sold to a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. of Japan and leased back to GasLog under a long-term charter.

The remaining 15 LNG carriers are owned by Nasdaq-listed GasLog Partners.

During the past two month or so, GasLog said its operational activity has been 100 percent.

GasLog and GasLog Partners have also accelerate opportunistically their dry-docking schedules during the slowdown of LNG trade in February and March.

“Four dry-dockings will have been completed by mid-April, all of which are expected to be on time and within budget, including the installation of ballast water treatment systems,” said GasLog.

The charter parties for all of the Group’s term-chartered vessels remain in effect with revenues as per the contract terms.

“During the first quarter of 2020, the Group’s tri-fuel diesel electric vessels operating in the spot and short-term market delivered time charter equivalent earnings of around $44,000 per day,” said GasLog.
“Presently, all of the Group’s vessels operating in the spot and short-term market that are not undergoing dry-dockings are on charters through to at least May,” it added.

Gaslog noted that there has been a marked increase in activity in the spot and short-term market in recent weeks, primarily driven by a resumption in industrial activity in China.

“Against a backdrop of unprecedented global uncertainty, I am very proud of the dedication of all our employees, whose health and safety remains our first priority,” said Paul Wogan, Chief Executive.

“I especially thank our seafarers for their commitment and professionalism while apart from their families and friends,” stated Wogan.

The “GasLog Windsor” is immediately delivered into an attractive seven-year charter to Centrica.

“This vessel is the first of seven newbuildings due to be delivered by the third quarter of 2021,” said GasLog.

“On a fully delivered basis, 60 percent of GasLog’s directly owned fleet will be modern X-DF vessels on multi-year term charters,” it added.