LNG

GALP Energia, the Portuguese oil and gas company which recently agreed to sell its 10 percent stake in the Mozambique LNG project, posted higher adjusted second-quarter net profits.

GALP Energia, the Portuguese oil and gas company, has agreed to cash in its 10 percent stake in the Area 4 concession in the Rovuma Basin of Mozambique operated by Italy’s Eni by selling it to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the main energy operator in the United Arab Emirates.

The state-owned oil and natural gas company in Namibia in southwest Africa has signed an agreement with Chevron Corp. granting the US major an 80 percent operating and working interest in a key offshore block.

The terms of the transaction are that Namibia National Petroleum Corp. (Namcor) and Custos Energy, a Namibian independent oil and gas exploration company focused on attracting investment and expertise to the Namibian offshore industry, will each retain a 10 percent carried interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence 82 located in the Walvis Basin to Chevron Namibia Exploration Limited's majority stake.

Namibia has four oil and gas exploration and production basins north to south, comprising the Namib Basin in the north, then the Walvis Basin in Central Nambia, followed by the Luderitz Basin just to the south of that and then the more prolific so far Orange Basin in the far south near South African waters.

Orange discovery

Galp Energia of Portugal said on April 22, 2024, that its Mopane discovery in the southern Orange Basin could contain 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent or more.

The Namcor-Custos-Chevron deal concerns the Walvis Basin in the middle of the oil and gas resource area and offshore Walvis Bay in Central Namibia.

Namcor said in a statement that this strategic collaboration underscored its dedication to maximizing the exploration potential and development of Namibia's offshore resources, particularly in under-explored basins holding significant promise.

The transaction is pending regulatory approvals from the Namibia Ministry of Mines and Energy.

“Together, we will leverage significant expertise and resources to propel our national interests and economic growth, turning possibilities into prosperity for Namibia,” said Namcor’s Interim Managing Director Ebson Uanguta in a statement.

Namcor added that it anticipated a substantial surge in oil and associated natural gas production estimates following the analysis of existing data.

Ample seismic

Analysts noted that around 70 percent of the total block area is covered by extensive existing seismic data comprising over 3,500 kilometres of 2D and 9,500 kilometres of 3D data.

Previous drilling activity on PEL 82 discovered the Murombe-1 and Wingat-1 wells.

Results confirmed regional extensions and the presence of the Barremian-Aptianoil-prone source rock, known as Kudu Shale.

“We are pleased to announce the continuing expansion of our in-country partnership with Chevron through their entry into PEL 82,” said Knowledge Katti, Chairman and Chief Executive of Custos.

“This is one of the most advanced and interesting opportunities offshore Namibia outside of the Orange Basin.” Katti explained.

“We are pleased to see our efforts over the last decade on PEL 82 result in this important step forward adding further to Namibia’s world-class offshore opportunity,” he stated.

Galp Energia, the Portuguese oil and gas company whose most valuable upstream assets has been its stake in one of Africa’s prolific natural gas basins and LNG projects offshore Mozambique, says a new discovery off the southwest African nation of Namibia could contain 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent or more.

Venture Global LNG Inc., the US liquefied natural gas developer involved in a dispute with many customers regarding the non-delivery of post-commissioning cargoes from the Calcasieu Pass project in Louisiana, plans to acquire nine LNG carriers to expand its worldwide sales especially of spot shipments.

US energy regulators have finally intervened in the long-running dispute between Venture Global LNG and its Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana and major customers over delays in activating sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) for contract cargoes.

Venture Global LNG has told the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it could not meet contracts to provide cargoes from the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana to major customers because the facility was not yet ready to meet three criteria in the sales and purchase agreements.

NextDecade Corp., the developer of the Rio Grande LNG export project on the Brownsville Ship Channel in Texas, has signed a long-term sale and purchase agreement with Galp Trading S.A. of Portugal.

NextDecade, based in Houston, said that under the 20-year deal Galp would purchase 1.0 million tonnes per annum of LNG indexed to the US benchmark Henry Hub gas price on a free-on-board (FOB) basis whereby the Portuguese supply their own ships.

“We are honored to have Galp, one of Portugal’s largest energy companies and a key player in the Iberian Peninsula, as our customer,” said Matt Schatzman, NextDecade's Chairman and Chief Executive.

“We look forward to helping Galp, as well as other European companies and their customers, meet their energy needs by offering a lower-cost, reliable source of LNG with lower carbon-intensity,” added Schatzman.

FID moves

NextDecade explained that it was targeting a positive final investment decision on the first three Trains of the Rio Grande project for the first quarter of 2023.

Further FIDs on the other permitted liquefaction Trains would follow thereafter for the venture with proposed 27 MTPA of output.

NextDecade has made progress with other SPAs during 2022, including one with ExxonMobil Corp.

The US major signed a 20-year supply deal with NextDecade at the end of July 2022 through its trading subsidiary in Asia.

Under that SPA, the US major’s Asia unit would purchase 1 MTPA of LNG supplied from the first two Trains of the Rio Grande facility.

The first Train is expected to start commercial operations as early as 2026.

NextDecade has also signed three supply agreement with Chinese companies, including a 20-year deal with China Gas Hongda Energy Trading Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Gas Holdings.

That deal was also for 1 MTPA of LNG indexed to Henry Hub and delivered on a FOB basis.

NextDecade in April 2022 signed a 20-year SPA with the Singapore trading arm of ENN Group of China and another with China’s Guangdong Energy Group Natural Gas.

Sept 29 (LNGJ) - The 174,000 cubic metres capacity LNG carrier “British Listener” is sailing through the Mediterranean heading for Mozambique in southeast Africa where it is expected to arrive on October 13, according to shipping data.

   Analysts say the arrival of the UK-flagged vessel in the area could be a coincidence, or be more likely related to the long-awaited first cargo lifting from Mozambique’s first LNG export project led by Italy’s Eni, the “Coral Sul FLNG” production hull. The other partners in the FLNG project are ExxonMobil Corp., China National Petroleum Corp., Galp Energia of Portugal, Korea Gas Corp. and Mozambique’s ENH, the state energy company.

Portuguese oil and gas company Galp Energia swung to a second-quarter net profit of €726 million ($741M) from a previous quarterly loss as it reported progress in the development of the Mozambique floating LNG project in southeast Africa.