LNG

The United States government forecasts that the global liquefied natural gas markets in the current winter season would likely be balanced through to the end of March 2024 even as geopolitical, weather and other risks remained.

Technip Energies, the leading liquefied natural gas engineering company, reported reduced first-half profits and revenues as the full withdrawal from the Arctic LNG II project in the Gydan Peninsula of Russia was completed amid the gain of a lucrative contract for the LNG expansion in Qatar and with a new record backlog of contracts.

Russian natural gas company Novatek has held a ceremony with the Russia’s government to mark the launch of the first modular liquefaction Train onboard a gravity-based structure at an assembly yard in the Murmansk region and set to be towed to the Gydan Peninsula project site on the Gulf of Ob in Western Siberia.

Technip Energies, the engineering company with a leadership positions in liquefied natural gas as well as hydrogen and ethylene projects has signed an agreement to set up a joint venture firm with National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) of the United Arab Emirates.

The accord was signed in Paris during the state visit to France of the UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The signing was witnessed at a ceremony attended by UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna.

The new company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the LNG producing emirate of the UAE, is called NT Energies LLC and will concentrate on new energy solutions such as carbon capture. though will also be involved in providing onshore and offshore oil and gas field and facility services for storage, installation and repairs and maintenance.

The agreement was signed by NPCC Chief Executive Ahmed Al Dhaheri and Arnaud Pieton, CEO of Technip.

The new company NT Energies aims to support energy transition in the UAE, the broader Middle East region and North Africa by providing added-value services .

These would include blue and green hydrogen and related decarbonization projects, carbon-dioxide capture in addition to industrial projects in the fields of waste-to-energy, biorefining and biochemistry.

LNG projects

Technip has been involved in the gravity-based structure-one modules for Arctic LNG II in the Gydan Peninsula.

The project led by Russian company Novatek contributed €445.4 million of revenues to Technip in the first quarter of 2022.

Technip is additionally working on the US Sempra Infrastructure-led Costa Azul Mexican LNG export project on the Pacific Coast as well as Greater Tortue Ahmeyim floating LNG projects offshore Senegal and Mauritanian waters in West Africa.

“We are very proud to have signed this agreement with such a recognized leader and long-standing partner with whom we have delivered many key energy projects,” said Arnaud Pieton, CEO of Technip Energies.

The parent company of NPCC is the National Marine Dredging Group in the UAE and its CEO Yasser Zaghloul said the deal reaffirmed the commitment of NPCC to support decarbonization in line with the UAE’s strategy.

“This agreement with Technip Energies opens up new opportunities for sharing expertise in the field of sustainable energy and aligns with our expansion plans,” stated Zaghloul.

TotalEnergies, the French energy major, said that Europe did not have enough liquefied natural gas import infrastructure for the number of cargoes required to make up for the Russian volumes cut by Western sanctions over the Ukraine invasion.

Novatek, the operator of the Yamal LNG plant and developer of the Arctic LNG II project, said the first three stages of international certification have been obtained for long-term carbon-dioxide underground storage sites on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas in northern Siberia.

Sovcomflot said a keel-laying ceremony was held at the Zvezda Shipbuilding yard in Russia’s Far East for a new Arctic liquefied natural gas vessel ordered by the Russian tanker and LNG carrier fleet owner.

Novatek Chief Executive Leonid Mikhelson said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow that all three liquefaction Trains at the Arctic LNG II plant were scheduled to come on stream in a two-year time span from 2023.

Feb 25 (LNGJ) - Russian natural gas company Novatek signed a long-term LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement with the Chinese Shenergy Group from volumes produced by the Arctic LNG II on the Gydan Pensinsula, currently under construction. The accord is for 3 million tonnes per annum of LNG over 15 years and delivered to terminals in China on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis whereby the seller pays for the shipping. 

   “Our LNG commercial strategy is to diversify our client base and target end consumers in the fast-growing Asian-Pacific region, and the LNG volumes produced from our Arctic LNG II project are core to our long-term objective of delivering affordable, secure and sustainable natural gas for many decades,” said Novatek Chairman Leonid Mikhelson.

Mitsui OSK Lines, the Japanese shipping company, said it signed charter agreements for three ice-breaking liquefied natural gas carrier for the Arctic II LNG project in the Gydan Peninsula of northern Siberia being developed by Russian natural gas company Novatek.

The three vessels are being built by the South Korean shipbuilders, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, and are scheduled for delivery in 2023.

“The vessels will mainly transport LNG from a loading terminal on the Gydan Peninsula in the Russian Arctic to the floating LNG storage units (FSU) to be installed at the trans-shipment terminal in Kamchatka (eastbound) and Murmansk (westbound) via the Northern Sea route,” explained MOL.

The Arctic LNG II project being developed by Novatek with three gravity-based platforms and the estimated capital expenditure for the joint venture is now put at the equivalent of US$21.3 billion.

Arctic LNG will produce 19.8 MTPA of LNG as well as gas concentrate from the principal feed-gas resources, the Utrenneye gas field.

Novatek holds 60 percent of the Arctic LNG project and four other 10 percent stakes are shared between various shareholders.

The 10 percent holdings belong to French major Total, which is also a shareholder in the Novatek company, China National Petroleum Corp., China National Offshore Corp. and a Japanese investor group comprising Mitsui & Co. and the government institution, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (Jogmec).

“Compared with MOL's previous icebreaking LNG carriers, which can only sail eastbound in the Northern Sea Route during mostly summer and autumn period of time when the ice is thin, the new vessels will have a narrower width, hull form optimized for ice breaking, and an increased propulsion engine output which will enable the vessels to sail east via the Northern Sea Route all year round,” stated MOL.

MOL added that combination of these three ice-breaking LNG vessels, which can transport LNG to the FSUs in the east and west throughout the year, and conventional LNG carriers that will transport LNG from the FSUs to their final destinations, will enable efficient year-round transportation.

“The eastbound transportation route will reduce the distance of the voyage by approximately 65 percent compared to the westbound route via the Suez Canal for Asian destinations, thereby making a significant contribution to a reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions by vessels,” said the Japanese company.

MOL noted that it had already been engaged in transporting LNG using three icebreaking LNG carriers on the Northern Sea Route since March 2018 for the Yamal LNG Project in Russia.

“These new contracts were concluded in recognition of MOL's proven track record and technical expertise in the Northern trade, and the experience and resources which the company has built over many years of LNG transportation,” said the company.