LNG

June 4 (LNGJ) - The Qatari Q-Flex LNG vessel “Al Gharrafa” with 216,200 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to berth on June 5 at the French Fos Cavaou LNG import terminal located west of the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

The shipment was loaded on May 3 at the Ras Laffan export plant in the Arabian Gulf and the carrier voyage was around the southern tip of Africa because of continued insecurity for shipping in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The delivery came as the French day-ahead Point d’Echange de Gaz (PEG) price in the virtual trading market was at the equivalent of $11.450 per million British thermal units.

TotalEnergies has signed a liquefied natural gas sale and purchase agreement to supply Sembcorp Fuels, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries.

The deal entails the delivery of up to 800,000 tonnes of LNG for a duration of 16 years, commencing in 2027.

“The LNG will be sourced from TotalEnergies’ global portfolio. This new agreement adds to the companies’ current SPA, which runs until 2029,” the French major explained.

“By supplying this additional LNG supply to Singapore, TotalEnergies is contributing to the country’s energy security and to its decarbonization goals,” said TotalEnergies.

“This deal also reflects TotalEnergies’ commitment to supporting its customers in their transition to greater sustainability,” it added.

TotalEnergies is the world’s third-largest LNG player with a market share of around 12 percent and a global portfolio of about 50 MTPA with interests in export facilities from Africa to Australia.

Qatar deals

QatarEnergy is also a key supplier to TotalEnergies and in 2023 two long-term LNG SPAs were signed to supply of up to 3.5 MTPA of LNG from Qatar to France.

Under the Qatar agreements, LNG will be delivered ex-ship to the Fos Cavaou LNG receiving terminal located west of Marseilles.

Those deliveries are expected to start in 2026 for a term of 27 years.

TotalEnergies has gas interests in two of Qatar’s expansion joint ventures, the North Field East (NFE) and the North Field South (NFS) projects.

TotalEnergies recently reported declines in annual and quarterly net profits as commodity prices plummeted compared with the previous year while the French major sold over 44 million tonnes of LNG and opened the Le Havre floating LNG regasification terminal in France while being further boosted by progress in other oil and gas projects.

TotalEnergies posted a 35 percent drop in adjusted net operating income for all of 2023 to $25.10 billion from $38.47Bln in 2022.

For full-year 2023, hydrocarbon production for LNG was up 9 percent compared with 2022 due to increased supply to Nigeria LNG in West Africa, higher availability of Ichthys LNG in the Northern Territory of Australia and from the Hammerfest LNG plant in Norway.

Algeria plans to export liquefied natural gas to Asia and South America after the refurbishment of the Skikda liquefaction and export plant on the North African nation’s Mediterranean coast with new storage facilities and a larger jetty to be constructed by a consortium of Chinese contractors.

Toufik Hakkar, the Chief Executive of state-run Algerian oil and gas company Sonatrach, made the statement during a briefing following the signing on February 17 of an engineering contract for the Skikda LNG upgrade.

Sonatrach signed an agreement with two Chinese engineering companies to build a new LNG storage tank with 150,000 cubic metres capacity and to modernize the jetty and loading facilities.

The contract is with China’s Sinopec Luoyang Engineering Co.  (LPEC) and Sinopec International Petroleum Services Corp. (SIPS).

The work will also include the dismantling of two 20-year-old storage tanks at the Skikda facility.

The Skikda plant currently has 4.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG export capacity.

“The loading capacities and the capacities of the port of Skikda do not make it possible to supply the larger ships serving distant markets,” said Hakkar.

Renovation

“With the renovation of the port and the construction of this new storage tank, we will be able to go to these markets which constitute a strong added value,” explained the CEO, mentioning Asia and South America.

Sonatrach has several contracts for the Skikda plant, including one with TotalEnergies to supply 2 MTPA of LNG to the French market, primarily through the LNG terminal at Fos Cavaou near Marseille.

The agreement also includes the sub-charter of a TotalEnergies LNG carrier to Sonatrach.

The supplies for TotalEnergies are delivered ex-ship (DES) to Fos Cavaou through to December 2023.

“This engineering, procurement and construction contract is worth 25 billion Algerian dinars ($178 million) and will take 40 months to complete,” stated Hakkar.

The contract was signed by Sonatrach’s Director of Central Engineering and Project Management Farredj Aoudjehane and the SIPS General Manager in Algeria, Xu Zhenqiang.

“The agreement marks a new stage of cooperation between Sonatrach and Sinopec International Petroleum Services,” said Xu.

“During the implementation period, Sinopec will do its best to guarantee the completion of this project under the necessary safety conditions and with high quality within the set deadlines,” added the Chinese executive.

Elengy, the French LNG import terminal owner, and TotalEnergies said that France’s first LNG bunkering vessel, “Gas Vitality”, has loaded a cargo at the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal, located west of the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

Sept 15 (LNGJ) – Two LNG cargoes are heading for Belgium and France with much needed deliveries. The 170,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “LNG Abalamabie” is scheduled to deliver a shipment on September 22 to the French terminal at Fos sur Mer west of Marseille from the Bonny Island plant in Nigeria. The 206,000 metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Kattiyah” is scheduled to discharge a cargo on September 23 at the Zeebrugge import terminal in Belgium from Ras Laffan in Qatar.

   The shipments are bound for the European Union as the Continental European benchmark price, the Dutch Title Transfer facility (TTF), surged to a new summer season record of the equivalent of $22.75 per million British thermal units amid very low EU LNG storage inventories.

Algeria’s Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab has held face-to-face talks in Algiers with Total Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné for discussions including future liquefied natural gas projects.

Elengy, the French LNG terminal operator and its subsidiary Fosmax LNG, are launching an open season for capacity subscriptions at the Fos Cavaou facility, located in the Mediterranean west of the Port of Marseilles.

Three of France’s LNG terminals, Fos Tonkin, Fos Cavaou in the Mediterranean and Montoir-de-Bretagne on the Atlantic Coast, are operated by Elengy within the Engie Group and as subsidiaries of GRTgaz, France’s gas network operator.

Fosmax LNG is calling for capacity subscriptions at the Fos Cavaou terminal during 2021.

The Fos Cavaou facility has been operating since 2010 and has three storage tanks with combined capacity of 330,000 cubic metres.

France has a total of four terminals and the most modern facility opened in 2016 at Dunkirk on the Channel Coast and has capacity of 570,000 cubic metres in three tanks.

Elengy explained that Fos Cavaou’s operations are currently guaranteed through to March 2030 by ongoing subscriptions and contracts totaling 87 terawatt hours per year of capacity.

“Fos Cavaou, at the crossroads of maritime routes and major gas infrastructures, offers a privileged access to all European gas markets and the small-scale potential in a key Mediterranean location,” said Elengy.

“The ‘Open Season Fos Cavaou 2021’ is initiated in response to a high level of market interest expressed over the past few months, and aims to make available additional primary capacity achieved through technical and regulatory de-bottlenecking, as well as capacity extensions beyond 2030,” explained Elengy

The windows of interest offered include 1.0 billion cubic metres per annum from January 2022, 2.5 Bcm per annum from January 2024 and 4.5 Bcm per annum from April 2030 until 2045 or longer.

The open season will have two phases. Firstly, there will be a non-binding call for interest, which is expected to last for three months to precisely assess market needs.

Secondly, there will be a binding Open Season, which is expected during the second half of 2021 to perform a market test based on binding commitments of the parties.

“Registration for ‘Open Season Fos Cavaou 2021’ is now open, and shippers wishing to register are invited to complete and sign the Confidentiality Agreement, provided on the Fosmax LNG website, and send a digital copy by email return,” explained Elengy.

GRTgaz, the French natural gas grid operator and parent company of the main LNG terminals operator, has signed an agreement with the network operator of the Baltic state of Latvia for the French utility to support the modernization of the Latvian gas system and its energy transition process.

French energy major Total has signed an agreement to renew its partnership in the field of liquefied natural gas with the North African state of Algeria as Italian energy company Eni also advances with projects.

The accord between Total and Algerian oil and gas company Sonatrach allows the extension of the existing supply contracts for three additional years.

This will provide 2 million tonnes per annum of Algerian LNG to the French market, primarily through the LNG import terminal at Fos Cavaou, located east of the Mediterranean port of Marseilles.

Total said that the agreement also included the sub-charter of one of its LNG carriers to Sonatrach.

“This agreement is part of the long history of cooperation between Total and Sonatrach,” said Laurent Vivier, President for gas at Total.

“Thanks to the quality of our relationship we were able to conclude it in an extremely volatile market environment,” added Vivier.

“This new contract further enhances the flexibility of Total's LNG portfolio and strengthens our position as a major partner of Sonatrach,” he stated.

Total noted it was a historic player in the energy sector in Algeria for almost 70 years.

The group is active in oil and gas exploration and production, participating interests in the TFT II and Timimoun gas fields and in the oil fields of the Berkine Basin in southeast Algeria.

In addition, Total and Sonatrach have launched engineering studies for a petrochemical project in Western Algeria.

Algerian LNG exports have been falling and in the most recent official annual figures dropped by over 18 percent to about 10 million tonnes compared with 12.34MT the previous year from its two liquefaction plants at Skikda and Arzew on the Mediterranean Coast.

Italian energy company Eni and Sonatrach have completed the construction of the natural gas pipeline connecting the Bir Rebaa Nord and Menzel Ledjmet Est fields in the Berkine Basin.

The completion comes as Algeria is making three-pronged marketing efforts to direct new gas finds into domestic industry, for export as pipeline gas to Europe and as LNG to mostly European markets amid low prices and high global volumes.

The new Berkine Basin pipeline is 185 kilometres in length and 16 inches in diameter and will transport capacity of 7 million standard cubic metres of gas per day to markets.


That project will allow for the export of the associated gas produced in Block 403 and the development of the gas fields of the blocks of North Berkine, where the drilling of the first four wells have already been completed and linked.

Sonatrach has been increasing the capacity of its export infrastructure like the Medgaz gas pipeline to Spain, and building a new LNG jetty at the Skikda liquefaction plant.