LNG

Crescent Petroleum, a leading energy company in the LNG-producing nation of the United Arab Emirates, has started contracts to develop three hydrocarbon fields in Iraq with the aim being to boost Iraqi natural gas resources on a fast-track basis for domestic gas-fired power plants.

Crescent is headquartered in Sharjah, the third-largest of the seven emirates that make up the UAE after Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

As the oldest and largest private upstream oil and gas company in the region Crescent’s operations have previously focused on Egypt and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Crescent signed three 20-year contracts to develop oil and natural gas fields in Iraq's Basra and Diyala provinces in February 2023 and the work has now started.

The UAE company plans centre on extracting natural gas from two oil and gas blocks in the country’s northern Diyala province.

Basra oil hub

A third exploration block, located in Iraq’s main oil-producing hub of Basra, will be explored and developed to add further supplies.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry announced on October 15 that the three Crescent energy contracts were now underway aimed at increasing natural gas availability.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said in a statement that the contracts concluded with Crescent are expected to help the country produce 400 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas within 18 months.

Abdul-Ghani explained that the first step was to help Iraq reduce gas flaring and utilize the processed gas for gas-fired power generation.

The Iraqis said they were are now set on developing strategic energy projects to extract more natural gas from the nation’s vast resources.

Crescent will build a processing plant on site as well as pipelines and infrastructure to supply the gas.

Iraq is the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and depends on oil revenue to meet 90 percent of government expenditure.

Exports

The country exports about 3.3 million barrels of oil per day, while production in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region amounts to more than 450,000 barrels per day.

Power plants in Iraq currently depend on gas imports from Iran and which cover one-third of the country’s energy needs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan stated recently that the Central Asian former Soviet Republic planned to sell 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually to Iraq through a swap arrangement with Iran.

The Iraqi Minister of Electricity, Ziyad Ali Fadel, said that Iraq would receive gas from Turkmenistan through the pipeline network from Iran and the volumes would be supplied to gas-fired power plants.

Excelerate Energy, the leading US provider of floating LNG import terminals, has extended a time-charter agreement with the Dubai Supply Authority for a floating storage and regasification unit deployed in the United Arab Emirates.

Excelerate said that prior to the deal the agreement for the FSRU “Explorer” had a remaining firm charter period of around three years.

Under the terms of the new agreement, the charter period will be extended by an additional five years from the end of the existing contract in the fourth quarter of 2025.

“Reaching an agreement on the extension of our time-charter agreement with DUSUP highlights our ongoing efforts to develop and grow our existing, diversified regasification business,” said Daniel Bustos, Chief Commercial Officer of Excelerate.

Revenues foundation

“Our current markets are essential to maintaining our solid foundation of revenues and providing new opportunities for downstream growth,” he added.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with DUSUP and remain committed to providing Dubai with the critical energy security it needs,” stated Bustos. 

FSRUs are a preferred option for Middle East nations and there are other floating terminals currently in operation in Kuwait, Jordan and Israel.

Bahrain and Egypt also have the onshore and offshore infrastructure for FSRUs though have no new charter agreements in place.

The FSRU “Explorer” was chartered initially to Dubai in 2015 to complement existing supply sources and support the Emirate of Dubai's seasonal demand requirements.

The vessel is located at DUSUP's Jebel Ali port and has become an important part of Dubai's integrated supply infrastructure.

The UAE entered into its first long-term charter agreement with Excelerate in 2014 for a larger and more efficient FSRU to replace an existing regasification vessel.

Under that agreement, Excelerate customized the “Explorer” in 2015 to meet the DUSUP's higher supply requirements.

Excelerate had enhanced the vessel with the newest features including new high-pressure vaporizers and pumps installed to increase regasification send-out capacity from 690 million cubic feet per day to 1 billion cubic feet per day.

LNG importer Kuwait has made its first natural gas discovery as an operator offshore during a drilling campaign in the waters of LNG exporting nation Indonesia.

Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) announced the successful commercial discovery of gas in Indonesia's Anambas Block.

KUFPEC (Indonesia) made the discovery through the successful drilling of the Anambas-2X well.

Acting Chief Executive of KUFPEC, Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah, stated that this “exciting discovery” marked the first operated offshore exploration discovery for KUFPEC.

“It demonstrates KUFPEC’s growth and potential as an operator of offshore oil and gas projects,” added Al-Sabah.

“I am especially proud of the professionalism of the KUFPEC team, which included Kuwaiti experts who led operations on the drilling platform,” stated the Acting CEO.

The company said the well was drilled in 288 feet of water using a jack-up rig to reach a total depth of 10,509 feet.

Natuna Sea gas

Located in the Natuna Sea near an existing block in which KUFPEC is a partner, the Anambas Block was awarded to KUFPEC through a competitive bidding process in 2019.

As part of the drilling campaign, KUFPEC conducted two drill stem tests, one in the Lower Gabus formation and the other in the Intra Keras formation.

The company said its tests subsequently resulted in a stabilized combined flow rate of 7 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas and 1,240 standard barrels per day of condensate from the two formations.

KUFPEC said it intended to conduct more tests on other formations within the same well.

The Block is fully operated by KUFPEC, which also holds the entire 100 percent participating interest. KUFPEC’s production sharing contract has a licence term of 30 years, including a six-year exploration period.

KUFPEC is the international upstream company engaged in exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas outside the State of Kuwait and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp.

Al-Zour LNG

Kuwait in 2021 completed its first onshore LNG import terminal, the Al-Zour facility located about 90 kilometres southeast of Kuwait City and about 16km from Kuwait’s border with Saudi Arabia.

It consists of a regasification facility capable of liquefying 130,000 cubic metres of gas per day and eight LNG storage tanks, with four in the first phase, and each with 225,000 cubic metres of capacity.

Al-Zour is the largest LNG import terminal in the Middle East and was constructed to provide fuel and power to the refining and petrochemicals industries.

Until recently, Kuwait had only imported LNG via a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the dockside of Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi port. The FSRU has been in operation since 2009.

Oil exporter Kuwait is also focusing on ramping up its own natural gas production as part of its economic growth strategy through to 2040.

The use of LNG in the Middle East is forecast to expand by around 50 percent through 2025, with much of the increase coming from Kuwaiti demand.

Excelerate Energy, the US company that led the global development of floating LNG import terminals, has completed the successful transition of its entire fleet of floating storage and regasification units to Excelerate Technical Management.

“Congratulations to our ship management team overseeing this effort and the 600 plus seafarers that supported,” said Steven Kobos, President and Chief Executive of Excelerate Energy.

“Transitioning 10 ships in 10 months is a tremendous accomplishment in any year, but especially in 2020,” added Kobos.

“Through ETM, we look forward to continuing to provide the seamless service our customers have come to know and expect,” he stated.

Excelerate began transitioning its fleet in February 2020 with the FSRU “Experience” after the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Government of Belgium awarded Interim Documents of Compliance (DoC) under the International Safety Management (ISM) Code to ETM.

Excelerate completed the transition of the 10th and final FSRU “Excellence” on October 28.
As each FSRU undergoes scheduled maintenance and upgrades, Excelerate plans to repaint its vessels in the corporate brand colors and design.

“At Excelerate, we hold ourselves to the highest standards, and this transition gives us an opportunity to enhance our already rigorous safety management programs,” said Cal Bancroft, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Excelerate.

“It also demonstrates our commitment to stewardship, accountability, improvement, and leadership and providing more flexible and seamless services to clients,” added Bancroft.

Excelerate explained that with the transition to the new ship management subsidiary, customers can continue to expect
consistency of operations and high performance of personnel development, both seagoing and shore-based.

Houston-based Excelerate began developing its ETM ship management services in February 2020.

In early June 2020, it named Bancroft as the COO to help oversee the unit.

He holds a B.S. in Nautical Science from Maine Maritime Academy and an M.B.A. in International Business and Marketing Management from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He also served in the US Naval Reserve. 

Excelerate Energy, the pioneer of more than a dozen LNG import projects worldwide, has taken delivery of its 10th floating storage and regasification unit, the “Excelerate Sequoia”, from the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering shipyard in South Korea.

Excelerate Energy of the US, the owner of a fleet of 10 LNG floating storage and regasification units and the pioneer of over a dozen import projects worldwide, has boosted its corporate leadership for shipping.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports jumped by more than 67 percent last month to 40 cargoes as import capacity gradually increases to handle the shipments, mainly from Qatar, Australia, the US and Africa.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is set to start commercial operations at its floating LNG import facility near Khalifa Bin Salman Port with partners including Teekay LNG, while pursuing exploration and production activities to find more gas.

The prices of spot LNG cargoes declined by around 11 percent during the past week with December 2019 and January 2020 deliveries being quoted at $6.30 per million British thermal units for China and South Korea.

LNG spot cargo prices lost their momentum in the past week with December 2019 and January 2020 deliveries being set up and averages for North Asia dropping under the $7.00 per million British thermal units level as supplies were ample.