LNG

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund belonging to Norway, the main pipeline natural gas supplier to the European Union and an LNG producer, reported a loss of almost $34 billion in the third quarter as all asset classes fell in value.

The European Union’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has issued its annual report on the natural gas market, including the role of liquefied natural gas, with a list of lessons learnt and future actions to be taken 18 months after the Russian supply shock began with the Ukraine invasion and prompted a major rebalancing of the markets that will have a lasting impact.

Wood Mackenzie, the energy consultants and a subsidiary the US Verisk analytics business, has launched a new data and solutions platform called Lens Gas & LNG.

“As the newest addition to Wood Mackenzie’s Lens data analytics platform, Lens Gas & LNG offers a single tool to explore all gas and LNG data, analysis and modelling capabilities,” said the Edinburgh-headquartered UK company.

Wood Mackenzie has expanded its offerings beyond simple consultancy and forecasting since being acquired in 2015 by Nasdaq-listed US firm Verisk, which is based in New Jersey.

“This seamless Lens experience brings Wood Mackenzie’s renowned expertise, analyses and modelling insights together to enable faster, more accurate operational and strategic planning and portfolio management,” said a statement.

Wood Mackenzie said its Lens® platform aims to be an industry standard in critical decision-support to provide answers to complex questions across the natural resources value chain.

“Lens Gas & LNG is a must-have solution for any energy market participant,” said Andrew Pearson, Global Head of Gas & LNG at Wood Mackenzie.

“It is built to support customers with strategic planning, valuations, M&A, business operations, strategic sourcing and trading,” added the firm.

Wood Mackenzie said the Lens platform aimed to quantify risk and identify opportunities through understanding market dynamics and their impact on investments.

The consultancy and data company explained that users can rapidly develop alternative, bespoke market outlooks that leverage Wood Mackenzie’s industry-standard models to produce detailed analysis.

“The gas & LNG industry has undergone significant changes over the last few years, from new innovations spurred by the energy transition to major global events impacting supply, demand, trade flows and prices,” said the firm.

“To help navigate these complexities, Lens Gas & LNG brings markets forecast and modelling workflows to its current asset optimisation capabilities to provide a uniquely integrated view of gas & LNG markets and assets,” it stated.

The European Union and Japan said after meetings in Brussels that they were committed to work closely to address the current challenges in energy markets worldwide, including LNG and pipeline natural gas supplies.

Norwegian energy company Equinor, whose Hammerfest LNG plant comes back on stream in mid-May 2022, said “unprecedented” European natural gas prices in the second half resulted in record high annual and fourth-quarter adjusted earnings after gas output was boosted.

Norway, the main West European supplier of long-term pipeline natural gas directly to Germany, France Belgium and the UK, said seven companies had applied for production licences in the 25th licensing round on the Norwegian shelf with any gas finds providing more competition to LNG cargoes from outside the region.

“The numbered rounds are focused on key parts in our least explored, open areas,” said Tina Bru, the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

“They are an important supplement to the APA (awards in pre-defined areas) rounds as exploration activity in immature areas gives the state as a resource owner more knowledge about the resource potential,” explained Bru.

“It enables us to identify resources and create value for the community. We will now start processing the applications from the seven companies,” she stated.

Norway, while being the main pipeline natural gas supplier to Europe, along with Russia’s Gazprom, is in competition to LNG deliveries from nations such as Qatar, the US, Nigeria, Algeria and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Russia.

The Norwegians are also the only large-scale producers of LNG in Western Europe from the Hammerfest LNG plant, which has been closed until the third quarter of 2021 because of ongoing repairs from a fire in September 2020.

Damage caused by the fire at the LNG facility will take until around October 2021 to repair.

The fire, in which no one was killed nor injured, suffered its main damage from large amounts of seawater from the extinguishing process downing auxiliary systems such as electrical equipment and cables.

Feed-gas for the single-Train Hammerfest liquefaction facility, which exports around 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG, comes from the Snohvit gas field in the Barents Sea.

The 25th licensing round comprises nine areas outside the APA area on the Norwegian shelf.

The round was announced on the 19th of November 2020 and includes one area in the Norwegian Sea and eight in the Barents Sea.

The companies that have applied for production licences are: Norske Shell; Equinor Energy; Idemitsu Petroleum Norge; Ineos E&P Norge ; Lundin Norway AS; OMV (Norge) and Var Energi AS.

Norway also allocates exploration areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and these take place annually through two equal licensing rounds.

These rounds include areas in the most famous exploration areas. As exploration activity has been going on for several decades, the most well-known exploration areas now include most of the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea and a large part of the Barents Sea to the south.

The Ministry in January 2021 awarded 61 upstream licences in pre-defined areas of the NCS to 30 licensees, including prominent LNG players such as BP, Shell, Total and Eni of Italy, as well as ConocoPhillips, the only bidder among US majors.

The future expansion of natural gas is underpinned by the development of new resources in gas-rich producing countries, which will expand LNG export capabilities, according to a new French report.