LNG

Global Energy Storage (GES) of Singapore, a developer and operator of energy storage terminals, has announced a strategic partnership with a liquefied natural gas unit of Swedish shipping group Stena AB to identify and advance LNG logistics and storage solutions.

GES and Stena Power and LNG Solutions hope to combine their logistics expertise comprising floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), onshore terminals and storage.

“Stena owns three LNG carriers which it can deploy as FSRUs or floating storage, potentially together with innovative jetty-less and/or offshore power solutions that do not require onshore facilities,” said a joint statement.

GES is planning to build a global network of first-class energy storage assets from its base in the Asian city state.

Part of its strategy is to invest around $250 million in brown and greenfield assets, initially in Europe and Asia, in the next five years.

“Our development efforts are focused on establishing expandable platforms located at key crossroads of energy flows,” said GES, started up in May 2021 by private equity firm Bluewater.

Leadership

GES is led by Peter Vucins and Eric Arnold, the team behind the growth of leading hydrocarbon storage company, Global Petro Storage (GPS).

The Singapore firm plans to concentrate on low-carbon commodities, energy transition fuels like LNG, as well as potentially renewable energy sources in the future.

GES said its strategic deal with Stena Power and LNG would enable developing economies and emerging markets to access LNG and clean power.

“This is an exciting and important partnership for GES. We regard LNG as an important transition fuel, especially in emerging markets where there is a strong demand for gas and power and a structural need to switch from coal to lower carbon solutions such as LNG,” said Peter Vucins, Chief Executive of GES.

“We are also interested in exploring opportunities with regard to blue hydrogen production where LNG is combined with carbon capture to make low carbon hydrogen,” added Vucins.

“The possibility to deploy existing LNG carriers with onshore terminal solutions means that we can move quickly to provide our customers with a full range of solutions,” stated the GES CEO.

Göran Hermansson, Chairman of Stena Power and LNG, said Stena’s offering was wide-ranging and provided operational and commercial advantages as well as increased safety.

“Our work is underpinned by our values of care, performance and innovation,” added Hermansson,

“By working with Global Energy Storage, we can share our wide-ranging, industry-specific knowledge to better achieve our mutual objective of delivering more sustainable energy infrastructure solutions to communities across the world,” declared the Stena unit’s Chairman.

Stena Power and LNG is already active in southeast Asian LNG through its involvement with an LNG import project in Vietnam.

Stena has been contracted to supply its jetty-less LNG transfer and regasification system for a terminal project in Bac Lieu province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta being developed by Delta Offshore Energy and the regional authorities.

Delta Offshore Energy, the Singapore-based company, has awarded the world’s leading liquefaction plant builder Bechtel Inc. of the US the preliminary engineering contract for the power plant in Vietnam to be fuelled by imported LNG in Bac Lieu Province on the Mekong Delta.

Stena Power and LNG Solutions was awarded the contract by Singapore-based Delta Offshore Energy to provide front-end engineering and design for using Stena’s jetty-less LNG transfer and regasification system for an import and power project planned for Bac Lieu province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

Delta Offshore proposes to employ Stena’s Jetty-less Floating Terminal (JFT) and Self-Installing Regas Platform (SRP) to assist in providing 3,200 megawatts of gas-fired power from LNG imports into the Bac Lieu province of southern Vietnam.

A technology license agreement had previously reached between Stena Power & LNG in August 2020 for Delta Offshore to use the proprietary jetty-less technology.

“The FEED agreement is pivotal in our service provision to Delta Offshore for this important, large-scale energy infrastructure project in Vietnam,” said Svein Hellesmark, Chief Technology Officer of the Norway-based subsidiary of the Gothenburg, Sweden-headquartered Stena Group.

“Our Jetty-less LNG-to-Power technology has been created to meet demand for more flexible LNG import and export terminals, such as is required for the hugely exciting Bac Lieu LNG-to-Power Project,” added Hellesmark.

“At Stena we offer innovative, integrated solutions across the LNG value chain. Our wide-ranging activity in the sector also includes new-building project support, ship management and marine engineering, all underpinned by our ethos that gas should always travel first class,” he stated.

The Stena units, the Jetty-less Floating Terminal (JFT) and Self-installing Regas Platform (SRP), will be located about 40 kilometres (25 miles) off the Vietnam coast.

Stena said that the FEED contract would include detailed model testing to ensure optimum performance with the environmental conditions in the Mekong Delta.

Bobby Quintos, Managing Director of Delta Offshore, said he now regarded the Stena equipment as “key components” his company’s LNG-to-power project in Bac Lieu.

“They allow us to position the LNG receiving terminal offshore, and thereby to minimize the project’s impact on land and on the coastline of Bac Lieu,” explained Quintos.

“This is a benefit of great value to the province because the coast sustains shrimp farms, mangroves and salt beds, all of which are important to the regional economy and environment,” he added.

“Our ethos at Delta is to provide power for progress, and the JFT and SRP will help us do so in an efficient and economical manner,” declared Quintos.

Italian energy company Eni has strengthened its presence in future LNG importer Vietnam through the acquisition of Block 115, located in the Song Hong basin and the nearby Ken Bau natural gas and condensate discovery.

Eni acquired a 100 percent interest in the Block from Krisenergy, an independent upstream company focused on the production and development of oil and gas in the basins of Southeast Asia.

“The acquired Block is adjacent to Block 114 where the operator Eni Vietnam and its partner Essar Exploration and Production Limited have recently announced the Ken Bau gas and condensate discovery currently under appraisal,” explained Eni.

Milan-based Eni said the new acreage also borders Block 116, operated by Eni Vietnam with a 100 percent participating interest.

The Block covers an area of 7,382 square kilometres with a water depth ranging from 90 metres to 1,000 metres.

“Eni's presence in the country is further strengthened with this acquisition, consolidating its position in the recently discovered Ken Bau play, in line with the strategy of expanding  its gas portfolio in the Far East,” said Eni.

Eni has been present in Vietnam since 2013, and currently operates five blocks all located in the under-explored Song Hong and Phu Khanh basins.

Vietnam is currently developing about half-a-dozen LNG and power projects with overseas partners to try and keep pace with future energy needs to enable its economic expansion.

The leading LNG import projects include the Quang Ninh LNG-for-power venture owned by a partnership comprising PetroVietnam, Tokyo Gas and Marubeni Corp.

Vietnam is also developing another terminal involving US major ExxonMobil Corp. at the port city of Haiphong.

Another Vietnamese LNG-for-power venture is being developed by Singapore-based company Delta Offshore Energy and partners in Bac Lieu province in the Mekong Delta of south Vietnam.

Other ventures are planned for Ninh Thuan province, south of Cam Ranh Bay, and at Long An, also on the Mekong Delta. 

International commodities company Gunvor said it would enter an alliance to trade and ship liquefied natural gas to Vietnam, as part of a joint venture with Energy Capital Vietnam (ECV), a US-based development company.

Tokyo Gas, the Japanese utility and LNG importer, has joined with one of Japan’s main trading houses, Marubeni Corp., to develop a liquefied natural gas and power project in the northeast Vietnamese province of Quang Ninh.

Glenfarne Group, the owner of the Magnolia LNG export project in Louisiana, has made a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for five more years to complete the plant and associated facilities.

The regulators had previously approved construction of Magnolia LNG and related pipeline expansions in April 2016 under its previous owner, the Australian-listed company LNG Ltd that ceased trading amid financial difficulties.

That approval had required LNG Ltd to complete the project within five years, by April 2021.

The Magnolia plant is proposed for a 115-acre site near the Calcasieu Ship Channel. It is designed to produce 8.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG from four Trains.

“Unforeseeable developments in the global LNG market have affected Magnolia LNG’s ability to enter into long-term LNG offtake contracts,” privately-held Glenfarne told the FERC in requesting the extension.

“Magnolia and pipeline provider Kinder Morgan request a five-year extension of their authorizations, up to and including April 15, 2026, to place the Magnolia LNG Project facilities and Lake Charles Expansion Project facilities, respectively, into service,” Glenfarne added in its Magnolia project filing.

A final investment decision had not yet been taken on Magnolia as it sought to finalize a purchase agreement with a Vietnamese power and import venture in the Mekong Delta. That accord has now lapsed.

Glenfarne also acquired LNG Ltd.’s patented optimized single mixed refrigerant (OSMR) liquefaction technology from the Australian administrators.

Its purchase of Magnolia boosts the amount of US LNG export capacity Glenfarne has under development to 12 MTPA as it also owns Texas LNG Brownsville.

The Texas project received authorization from the FERC in November 2019 for the facility to be sited along the Brownsville Ship Channel.

Texas LNG seeks to supply Permian feed-gas as LNG to global customers along with two other rival projects being developed alongside.

These are the Rio Grande LNG project with five liquefaction Trains and over 26 MTPA of output and the smaller scale Annova LNG venture.

Rio Grande is own by NextDecade Corp and one of the main shareholders in Annova is Exelon Corp, the utility headquartered in Chicago.

All three Brownsville projects have pushed back their investment decisions and original construction and engineering timetables.

Glenfarne’s Texas LNG leadership still includes the project's co-founders, Chief Executive Vivek Chandra and Chief Operating Officer Langtry Meyer.

The sale to Glenfarne by the Australian administrators of LNG Ltd assets did not include the proposed Bear Head LNG project in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia with 12 MTPA of capacity.

Vietnam is making progress on several liquefied natural gas import projects to support associated power plants and one such venture in Bac Lieu Province in the southern Mekong Delta has signed a technology license agreement with Stena Power and LNG Solutions for jetty-less LNG receiving and regasification technology.

Italian energy company Eni said an exploration well located in Block 114 of the Song Hong Basin offshore Vietnam has confirmed a significant natural gas accumulation, further expanding the potential of the field.

Vietnam is making progress on several liquefied natural gas import projects to support associated power plants and one such venture in Bac Lieu Province in the southern Mekong Delta has been highlighted in a half-yearly Vietnamese report on the economy.