LNG

US LNG engineering company Bechtel was awarded a front-end engineering and design contract to study a proposed unified system between the onshore gas processing plant of the West Delta Deep Marine gas fields in the Mediterranean offshore Egypt and the LNG export plant located at Idku east of the Egyptian port of Alexandria.

Avenir LNG, the Norwegian small-scale LNG business, said the carrier “Avenir Accolade” would deliver the commissioning cargo to the latest Italian regasification terminal on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia after making its way from Asia.

Avenir, a joint venture between London-based Stolt-Nielsen and partners Höegh LNG and Golar LNG Ltd., took delivery of the 7,500 cubic metres capacity dual-purpose LBV “Avenir Accolade” in March 2021 from the Keppel Offshore and Marine shipyard in the Chinese port of Nantong.

The “Avenir Accolade” has an overall length of 124 metres and her beam is 18 metres.

Avenir said a ship-to-ship bunkering of the “Avenir Accolade” was carried out on April 26 by its sister ship, the “Avenir Advantage”, off Pengerang in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia.

The Maltese-flagged “Avenir Accolade” is scheduled to transit the Suez Canal on May 15 into the East Mediterranean, according to shipping data.

“We’re thrilled to see the ‘Avenir Advantage’ alongside the ‘Avenir Accolade’, the first time they are back together since leaving the shipyard in Nantong,” said Peter Mackey, Chief Executive of Avenir LNG Ltd.

Schedule

“We look forward to welcoming the ‘Avenir Accolade’ to our HIGAS terminal in Sardinia in a few weeks’ time with the commissioning cargo onboard,” added Mackey.

“We continue to make significant strides in executing our strategy for Avenir LNG,” the CEO explained.

“The Avenir team and the crews onboard our vessels deserve a huge amount of praise for all they have accomplished during these enormously challenging times,” he stated.

Stolt-Nielsen started up the small-scale LNG sector firm Avenir in 2015 and its two main investors, Golar and Höegh, each have 22.5 percent of Avenir.

In addition to its growing small-scale fleet Avenir has an 80 percent stake in the small-scale Higas terminal being commissioned in May.

The terminal is located at the Port of Oristano and includes a jetty capable of receiving LNG vessels up to 20,000 cubic metres, an unloading arm, six horizontal cryogenic holding tanks of 1,500 cubic metres capacity each, two LNG truck-loading bays and a natural gas power generation system.

The Sardinian terminal will be capable of loading around 8,000 LNG trucks each year for subsequent distribution to smaller satellite stations across the island in a classic version of a targeted small-scale LNG project.

Sardinia currently lacks a system of access to natural gas and only a small number of industrial customers receive LNG by truck which is brought to the island by ferry.

Three European energy majors and prominent LNG market participants, Total, BP and Eni have confirmed a substantial East Mediterranean natural gas discovery in the North El Hammad block located 11 kilometres offshore Egypt.

Total said that along with its partners, BP of the UK and Eni of Italy, the Bashrush well in the North El Hammad licence area encountered 102 metres net gas pay in high quality sandstones of the Abu Madi formation.

“A production test was conducted with flow rates of up to 32 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, limited by testing facilities,” said Total.

“It is estimated that future deliverability per well will be up to 100 MMscf per day, along with up to 800 barrels of condensate per day,” explained the Paris-based company.

“Future plans foresee development through tie-in to nearby existing infrastructures,” stated Total.

Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total, said the discovery was a boost for the company, whose most prominent venture at the moment is the fully funded Mozambique LNG export project in southeast Africa,

“We are very pleased to announce this discovery in Egypt. These results support our strategy to allocate a significant share of our exploration budget to the search of hydrocarbons in the vicinity of existing infrastructures,” added McLachlan.

“These resources have low development costs since they can rapidly be tie-in and put into production,” he stated.

Total holds a working interest of 25 percent in the North El Hammad licence, alongside operator Eni with 37.5 percent and BP with 37.5 percent.

Total confirmed in July 2020 that full project financing was in place for the Mozambique LNG project using Area 1 feed-gas in the Rovuma Basin.

The joint venture companies in Mozambique have signed a $14.9-billion senior debt financing agreement proposed to construct a two-Train liquefaction plant with a total capacity of 13.1 million tonnes per annum.

Total said that the Mozambican venture represented a total post-financial investment decision outlay of $20Bln.

The Area 1 shareholding has Total as operator with a 26.5 percent participating interest alongside ENH with 15 percent.

Japan’s Mitsui & Co. owns 20 percent, India’s ONGC Videsh, Bharat PetroResources and Beas Rovuma Energy each hold 10 percent and Thailand’s PTTEP 8.5 percent.

Italian energy company Eni has signed a series of agreements with the government of Egypt and state-owned companies to prepare for the re-opening of the nation’s Damietta liquefaction plant by June 2020.