LNG

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, seeking an outlet for supplies previously delivered to Europe before the Ukraine invasion, has signed an accord with Iran to supply the  Gulf nation with pipeline gas from Russia.

European and Asian liquefied natural gas prices fell over the past week with the Dutch Title Transfer Facility benchmark declining by over 7 percent as European Union storage levels hit 100 percent and energy security concerns waned with cargo deliveries gathering pace and seasonal temperatures prevailed.

QatarEnergy has selected French major TotalEnergies as the first international partner for the second part of its LNG expansion known as the North Field South (NFS) liquefaction venture.

LNG importer Kuwait has made its first natural gas discovery as an operator offshore during a drilling campaign in the waters of LNG exporting nation Indonesia.

Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) announced the successful commercial discovery of gas in Indonesia's Anambas Block.

KUFPEC (Indonesia) made the discovery through the successful drilling of the Anambas-2X well.

Acting Chief Executive of KUFPEC, Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah, stated that this “exciting discovery” marked the first operated offshore exploration discovery for KUFPEC.

“It demonstrates KUFPEC’s growth and potential as an operator of offshore oil and gas projects,” added Al-Sabah.

“I am especially proud of the professionalism of the KUFPEC team, which included Kuwaiti experts who led operations on the drilling platform,” stated the Acting CEO.

The company said the well was drilled in 288 feet of water using a jack-up rig to reach a total depth of 10,509 feet.

Natuna Sea gas

Located in the Natuna Sea near an existing block in which KUFPEC is a partner, the Anambas Block was awarded to KUFPEC through a competitive bidding process in 2019.

As part of the drilling campaign, KUFPEC conducted two drill stem tests, one in the Lower Gabus formation and the other in the Intra Keras formation.

The company said its tests subsequently resulted in a stabilized combined flow rate of 7 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas and 1,240 standard barrels per day of condensate from the two formations.

KUFPEC said it intended to conduct more tests on other formations within the same well.

The Block is fully operated by KUFPEC, which also holds the entire 100 percent participating interest. KUFPEC’s production sharing contract has a licence term of 30 years, including a six-year exploration period.

KUFPEC is the international upstream company engaged in exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas outside the State of Kuwait and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corp.

Al-Zour LNG

Kuwait in 2021 completed its first onshore LNG import terminal, the Al-Zour facility located about 90 kilometres southeast of Kuwait City and about 16km from Kuwait’s border with Saudi Arabia.

It consists of a regasification facility capable of liquefying 130,000 cubic metres of gas per day and eight LNG storage tanks, with four in the first phase, and each with 225,000 cubic metres of capacity.

Al-Zour is the largest LNG import terminal in the Middle East and was constructed to provide fuel and power to the refining and petrochemicals industries.

Until recently, Kuwait had only imported LNG via a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the dockside of Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi port. The FSRU has been in operation since 2009.

Oil exporter Kuwait is also focusing on ramping up its own natural gas production as part of its economic growth strategy through to 2040.

The use of LNG in the Middle East is forecast to expand by around 50 percent through 2025, with much of the increase coming from Kuwaiti demand.

NextDecade, the developer of the currently dormant Rio Grande LNG export project along the Brownsville Ship Channel, has posted third-quarter earnings after a year of little activity prior to the global increase in prices and demand.

Kinder Morgan Inc., the US pipeline giant and key shareholder in the LNG export plant in Georgia and the Gulf LNG project in Mississippi, has completed the $1.22 billion acquisition of Stagecoach Gas Services, a natural gas pipeline and storage joint venture with assets serving the Marcellus Shale basin and northeast utilities.

Global banks and insurance companies formed a long line to invest in Qatar Petroleum’s US$12.5 billion bonds to finance liquefied natural gas expansion in the Arab Gulf and the multi-tranche offerings could have been subscribed more than three times.

Qatar Petroleum, the leading LNG producer and the developer of a huge expansion at Ras Laffan in the Gulf and the Golden Pass export project in the US, is increasing its upstream presence in the Americas by winning two exploration blocks offshore the tiny nation of Suriname.

Intercontinental Exchange, the leading global provider of trading platforms and clearing, said US bank Morgan Stanley and Co. had become the latest Exchange and Clearing member for ICE’s newest exchange, the ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) platform in the United Arab Emirates.

The IFAD membership now stands at a total of 29 firms and banks, listed at the end.

IFAD launched trading at the end of March 2021 in ICE Murban Crude Oil Futures and 18 Murban-related cash settled derivatives and inter-commodity spreads, offering the market a broad range of ways to trade and hedge Murban crude oil.

Contracts traded on IFAD are cleared at ICE Clear Europe where they are cleared alongside ICE’s global energy futures platform covering oil, natural gas and the environmental complex, allowing customers to benefit from critical margin offsets to enhance capital efficiency.

Produced by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), Murban is the UAE’s largest crude by volume, with daily production capacity of up to 2 million barrels.

IFAD saw record open interest of 53,515 contracts on May 18, with 48,440 of that total in the ICE Murban Crude Oil futures contract.

A total of 282,692 contracts have traded since the launch, equivalent to 282 million barrels of Murban Crude oil.

This includes 275,507 ICE Murban Crude Oil futures contracts and 7,185 Murban-related cash settled derivatives, with 55 firms having traded on IFAD since the launch.
Average Daily Volume in Murban Crude Oil Futures is 7,210 contracts.

“All the key metrics you look for to judge the traction of a new benchmark in the market - volumes, open interest, number and range of participants, and the depth of the curve - are all increasing,” said Jamal Oulhadj, President of ICE Futures Abu Dhabi.

“This really reflects how the energy industry is utilizing its new ability to hedge forward price risk for Murban crude and contribute to the price formation process of Murban crude oil,” Oulhadj explained.

In addition to producing Murban crude, ADNOC is a growing natural developer, including unconventional gas projects as well as operating the liquefaction and LNG export plant on Das Island.

The pioneering Das Island plant shipped its first cargo in 1977 and produces about 6 million tonnes per annum of LNG as the oldest in the Arab world after Algeria’s Arzew plant.

The plant’s LNG Trains are essential parts of the national resources for storage and export operations and is currently the subject of a rejuvenation programme.
IFAD has 29 Exchange members and 22 Clearing members.

Clearing members stand behind all trades made through IFAD and cleared by ICE Clear Europe, whether it is for the account of a customer, member or their own account.

Murban futures are open for trading for 24 hours a day on Mondays and 22 hours a day Tuesdays to Fridays, with investors from jurisdictions including Abu Dhabi, the US, Singapore, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Australia, Japan and South Korea, able to trade on IFAD.

The 29 members are: ABN AMRO Clearing Bank; ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC; ADM Investor Services International Ltd; ADM Investor Services; Advantage Futures; BNP Paribas; Banco Santander; Citigroup Global Markets; G.H. Financials Ltd; Goldman Sachs and Co; Goldman Sachs International; HSBC Bank Plc; J.P. Morgan Securities; Marex Financial; Mercuria International; Mizuho Securities USA; Morgan Stanley & Co.; Onyx Commodities Ltd; PVM Oil Futures Ltd; PVM Oil Futures Pte Ltd; Phillip Capital; R.J. O'Brien & Associates; Societe Generale International; StoneX Financial; TP ICAP Markets Ltd; Tower Research Capital Europe; Tullett Prebon (Europe) Ltd; Vercer Capital Markets Trading Ltd; Wedbush Securities.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s LNG subsidiary has awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the rejuvenation of two liquefaction Trains at the Das Island export plant in the Arab Gulf to Australian firm Worley Engineering Pty. Ltd.