LNG

A German onshore LNG import terminal project has formally started construction using Spanish regasification terminal expertise at Stade, on the Elbe Estuary between Hamburg and Cuxhaven.

The project called the Hanseatic Energy Hub has just held a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of the project and attended by executives of the venture and politicians

Enagás, the Spanish LNG terminal owner, is backing the Stade LNG terminal along with the Hamburg-based terminals and storage company, the Buss Group GmbH along with the main customer, the multinational Dow chemicals group. Another shareholder si the Partners Group infrastructure fund.

The Hanseatic Hub event speakers included the Chief Minister of the German state of Lower Saxony, Stefan Weil, and Jozef Síkela, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, a member of the 27-nation European Union that will hold regasification capacity at the German facility.

“Following the first floating LNG terminal, Germany’s first land-based liquefied natural gas terminal is now also being built in Lower Saxony,” said Weil in reference to the Wilhelmshaven floating terminal on the state’s North Sea Coast.

Federal role

“Our federal state is playing a key role in the expansion of infrastructure to import energy,” said Lower Saxony Minister Weil.

The statement continued that besides the two German energy and utility companies, EnBW and SEFE GmbH, which have respectively booked annual capacities of 6 billion cubic metres and 4 Bcm at the Stade terminal, so has the Czech energy company ČEZ, which has secured long-term import rights for 2 Bcm per annum.

Czech Minister Síkela said his country was looking forward to receiving its own LNG supplies via the Stade onshore terminal.

“We are constantly working to ensure the best possible future for our energy industry in the Czech Republic,” Síkela explained.

“Capacities for importing LNG from overseas are also an essential part of all this. After securing capacity in the floating LNG terminal in the Netherlands, we also managed last autumn in cooperation with ČEZ to secure capacity in the first German land-based terminal, Stade,” he added.

Czech energy security

“In three years it will contribute to covering up to a third of today's Czech consumption. Thanks to the convenient location, the terminal can also contribute to the reduction of fees for transporting gas to the Czech Republic,” Síkela stated.

Jan Themlitz, Chief Executive of the Hanseatic Hub project at Stade said that “after six years of planning and permitting”, the construction phase has now started.

“Privately initiated and funded we are benefiting from the vast experience of our shareholders. Partners Group is one of the largest private investors in the infrastructure sector and Enagás, Europe’s leading LNG-terminal operator, will be assuming operational responsibility and is teaming up with Dow, the ideal industrial partner on the site in Stade,” said Themlitz.

“As an initiator, the Buss Group has also played a key role in driving the project forward and bringing the shareholder-team together,” the CEO added.

Spanish role

Técnicas Reunidas, the Madrid-based engineering company, will provide Spanish expertise in leading the construction consortium for the terminal with completion set for 2027.

A Spaniard, Alejandro Marjalizo, has additionally been appointed as the Chief Technical and Operations Officer of the project and is a member of the Hansiatic Hub Management Board, reporting directly to CEO Themlitz.

Marjalizo previously worked at Enagás as an electrical engineer in 2007 and has focused on LNG since 2011.

Over the past 13 years, he has worked as a project engineer and as a project manager at LNG terminals in multiple locations, including at the Spanish terminals at Huelva, Cartagena and Barcelona as well as Altamira in Mexico.

Germany is also building a second onshore LNG terminal at Brunsbüttel in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, north of Hamburg, and where existing floating regasification services are currently operating.

April 18 (LNGJ) - The UK is scheduled to receive two LNG cargoes in the next week, one from Algeria at the Isle of Grain terminal on the Medway River in Kent and a second from the US at the South Hook terminal at the Port of Milford Haven.

   The carrier “Ougarta” with 171,800 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to discharge a shipment on April 19 at the Isle of Grain facility, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted from Algeria’s Arzew plant on April 15. The UK’s second cargo will be delivered on April 23 by the “GasLog Westminster”, which has 180,000 cubic metre of capacity, from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. That shipment was loaded on April 11 at the Sabine facility owned by Cheniere Energy.

Nov 30 (LNGJ) - Two LNG cargoes are headed for the UK port of Milford Haven next week, one from Peru and another from the US Gulf Coast, as wholesale prices for January on the UK National Balancing Point gas market dipped to the equivalent of $13.655 per million British thermal units.

   The “Maran Gas Amphipolis” with 173,400 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to discharge a Peruvian shipment on December 5 at the Dragon import facility at Milford Haven, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on November 11 from Pampa Melchorita facility on the Pacific Coast. The “Methane Patricia Camilla” with 167,400 cubic metres capacity is due to unload a US cargo on December 7 at the Welsh port’s South Hook terminal. The cargo was lifted on November 23 from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana.

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.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to the largest exporters, posted solid net income and increased vessel operating revenues with all ships available after previous dry-dockings.

March 16 (LNGJ) - Two cargoes are heading for the Netherlands and Belgium next week as European LNG prices decline. The “Golar Celsius”, a vessel with 154,950 cubic metres capacity, is scheduled to deliver a US cargo on March 21 to the Dutch Gate terminal in Rotterdam and which was lifted on March 7 from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana.

   The Bahamas-flagged “Rudolf Samoylovich, with capacity of 170,000 cubic metres, is due to berth on March 23 at the Zeebrugge terminal in Belgium with a Russian cargo lifted on March 15 from the Yamal export plant operated by Novatek in northern Siberia.

GasLog LNG Partners with an operational fleet of 12 vessels reported annual profit of $119 million on revenues of $379M amid a strong charter market with signs pointing to very positive prospects for the rest of 2023.

Tellurian Inc., the developer of the Driftwood LNG export plant in Louisiana, saw its shares plunge 40 percent on the week as it cancelled two sales and purchase agreements with UK major Shell and global commodities firm Vitol and said it had formulated a new financing strategy.

Shares in Tellurian tumbled by 15.60 percent in one day to $2.33 per share from $2.77 per share on the New York Stock Exchange American list after the statement saying it was seeking a strategic partner to pursue the venture.

The shares were down about 40 percent on the week through September 23 after negative reports emerged on the stock and the progress of the company to a final investment decision.

“The potential corporate and strategic partners we are seeking may want liquefied natural gas volumes that they can sell globally and now we have some capacity to offer that option,” said President and Chief Executive Octávio Simões.

Construction

“We have made good progress on our construction plan and will continue funding that with our cash and operating cash flow,” added the CEO. Tellurian's recent income has come from Haynesville shale gas sales and previously from some LNG trading

Houston. Texas-based Tellurian had initially said it would raise $1 billion by selling bonds to help finance Driftwood LNG for which some site clearing and preliminary work had already started at the site near Lake Charles and ahead of an FID.

Tellurian Executive Chairman Charif Souki said the focus was now on finding a strategic investor for the $12 billion project which had signed three SPAs in mid-2021 with Shell Vitol and with another global commodities firm Gunvor, whose SPA remains in place.

The strategy change followed previous unsuccessful talks with possible equity shareholders in return for them buying debt.

Tellurian’s SPAs with Shell and Vitol were for 3 million tonnes per annum of LNG each for 10 years from the first liquefaction Trains from the venture scheduled to come on stream in 2026 and with regulatory approvals for 27.6 MTPA of output.

Setback

“It sets us back, definitely. It puts in jeopardy the ability to deliver gas on the schedule that we were hoping to stick to,” explained Chairman Souki.

CEO Simões explained that what has not changed for Tellurian was that it was already operating as a natural gas producer with revenues from gas sales.

“Last quarter we produced 9 billion cubic feet of natural gas and had over $61 million in sales, and since then we have closed the EnSight acquisition,” noted Simões.

“Currently we have 11 natural gas wells in various stages of completion and therefore expect a significant increase in production and sales next quarter,” he said.

“In addition, we will add to our value when our fully permitted Driftwood LNG project is completed, and we can reach the global markets with LNG sales at global prices,” he stated.

Sept 12 (LNGJ) - The 154,950 cubic metres capacity carrier “Golar Penguin” was scheduled to discharge a cargo on September 13 at the UK Dragon LNG import terminal at Milford Haven. The shipment was lifted on August 30 from the Cheniere Energy-operated Sabine Pass export plant in Louisiana.

   The ship was arriving at the Dragon facilities as the UK National Balancing Point market price for wholesale gas was around the equivalent of $42.35 per million British thermal units compared with $20.10 per MMBtu exactly a year ago, long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and blamed on UK Government incompetence in failing to deveop oil and gas, overall energy security and gas storage.

The 50th anniversary Gastech Exhibition and Conference on LNG, pipeline natural and emerging energies is beginning on September 5 in the Italian city of Milan with global energy leaders and executives set to discuss the growing global gas crisis.