LNG

US major ConocoPhillips has agreed to acquire Marathon Oil Corp., the US company and main shareholder in Equatorial Guinea LNG in West Africa as well as a key operator in the major US shale basins.

Marathon Oil Corp. has entered into a five-year firm liquefied natural gas sales agreement with Glencore Energy UK for a portion of its equity natural gas produced from the Alba Field offshore the West African nation of Equatorial Guinea.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), the leading US pipeline feed-gas company for liquefied natural gas plants and a key energy infrastructure developer, has announced plans to expand the working gas storage capacity at its Markham facility in Matagorda County along the Texas Gulf Coast.

INEOS, the UK-based European chemicals company with increasing LNG interests, is entering the US oil and gas production sector for the first time with the acquisition of a portion of Chesapeake Energy’s assets in the Eagle Ford shale basin in south Texas for $1.4 billion.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) the leading US pipeline feed-gas company for liquefied natural gas plants and a key energy infrastructure developer, reported an increase in fourth-quarter net income and planned to expand its network to meet soaring LNG feed-gas demand.

ConocoPhillips has increased LNG activities in 2022 and outlined plans for the Port Arthur LNG export plant in Texas and other projects like cargo shipments to Germany and discussed its costs for the Qatar North Field expansion.

Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex), which operates the main LNG import terminal in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture and has a stake in an LNG receiving terminal in the Vietnamese port city of Haiphong, said it was also planning to expand its shale oil and gas interests in the US.

Reliance Industries, the Indian group behind the resurgence of the country’s domestic natural gas production in competition to LNG, has sold its stake in the US Eagle Ford Shale play in south Texas to a Delaware-registered company.

Ovintiv Inc., the shale oil and gas company with assets in key basins in North America, has signed an agreement to sell its Eagle Ford resources in south Texas to Validus Energy for $880 million to reduce debts as exploration and production companies in the LNG-exporting region of the US Gulf Coast have been badly hit by the combined oil price and Covid-19 slump since early 2020.

Japanese LNG importer Tokyo Gas has acquired more US shale gas assets in East Texas and Louisiana after closing a transaction with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.