LNG

JERA Co. Inc., Japan’s biggest liquefied natural gas importer and utility company, has approved a deal to sell part of its stake in the Freeport LNG export plant in Texas to another Japanese company.

Dec 7 (LNGJ) - Chiyoda Corp., the Japanese LNG and energy engineering company, said it was awarded a feasibility study contract for a carbon-dioxide liquefaction plant by Japan’s Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power). Chiyoda’s contract scope includes the design of a CO2-capture plant, a liquefaction plant and utility facility.

   J-Power is participating in the public call for commissioned research for a CCS project selected by the Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), along with Eneos Corp. and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration. “Chiyoda will collaborate with J-Power by applying its CCS project experience to support their plans,” said Chiyoda.

Nov 20 (LNGJ) - Japanese LNG engineering company, JGC Holdings Corp., said it had agreed with Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. and Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line) on the key principles for the commercialisation of a carbon-capture and storage (CCS) with Malaysian energy company Petronas by the end of 2028.

   “The target amount of CO2 injection is to be at least 2 million tons per year at the beginning of the project, including that from Malaysia and Japan, and 5 million tons per year by 2030, with a view to increasing the amount to more than 10 million tons per year in the early 2030s,” the companies said.

July 17 (LNGJ) - Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex), the mainly Asian energy and LNG projects particpant, has established a joint venture in Norway with Longboat Energy called Longboat Japex Norge AS. Longboat said that having completed the transaction, a $100 million financing facility for acquisitions and associated development costs has been established for the venture to draw on.

    “We are pleased that the creation of the Longboat-Japex joint venture has completed as scheduled and now looks forward to pursuing further acquisitions and opportunities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to follow on from the first joint transaction announced at the beginning of this month,” said Helge Hammer, Chief Executive of Longboat. “In the near term, we are looking forward to the drilling of the high impact Velocette exploration well (JV 20 percent) which is expected to spud in September,” said Hammer.

Italian energy company Eni has explained the strategy behind its agreed acquisition for $4.9 billion of UK-based Neptune Energy, which is controlled by equity funds and owns key global LNG stakes and gas field assets in Algeria, Indonesia, Norway, the UK, the Netherlands and Australia.

Jan 9 (LNG) - Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), MOL Ferry Co., Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex) and Hokkaido Gas have signed two separate agreements between MOL and Japex and between MOL and the utility Hokkaido Gas for the supply of LNG fuel to two newbuild LNG-powered ferries in each port on the Oarai-Tomakomai route operated by MOL Group company MOL Ferry.

   “The LNG fuel supply is scheduled to start in 2025 when the ferries will enter service. Japex will supply LNG fuel to the ferries at the Port of Oarai in Ibaraki Prefecture and Hokkaido Gas will supply it at the Port of Tomakomai in Hokkaido through the truck-to- ship method,” they added.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape urged Australian LNG and mining sector investors to “take my people with you” in an address to a mining and petroleum conference in Sydney on future development projects in his Oceania nation.

Japan companies have until the end of July to decide whether to maintain stakes in the Sakhalin II liquefied natural gas export project in the Russian Far East.

The Japanese government is currently coordinating possible future arrangements with the two Japanese LNG stakeholders in the Sakhalin plant, Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp.

Under the retention plan, Mitsui and Mitsubishi would keep 12.5 percent and 10 percent stakes respectively, even after Russian President Vladimir Putin's signing of an order that sets up a new operating company to safeguard control by Russia of the oil and gas ventures on and offshore Sakhalin Island.

According to the new Sakhalin II LNG operating company decree, foreign shareholders have until the end of July 2022 to apply to retain their existing shares in the new LNG operating entity after it is established.

Analysts noted that Japan acquires about 9 percent of its LNG from the Sakhalin II plant but pressure has mounted on the Japanese to quit Sakhalin amid sanctions and a pull-out by the other main shareholder Shell over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gazprom owns just over a 50 percent stake in the Sakhalin II operating company, while Shell held around 27.5 percent and the balance is owned by Mitsui and Mitsubishi.

China interest

The Sakhalin II plant began LNG exports in 2009 and has annual capacity from its two Trains of around 10 million tonnes per annum with shipments going mainly to Japan and South Korea and with China standing by to take over any relinquished Japanese stakes.

A statement said that the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Koichi Hagiuda, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, discussed the Sakhalin energy supply issue at a meeting on July 15.

The Kishida government has stressed the need to retain interests in oil and gas projects off Sakhalin as they are vital to securing stable energy supplies in a global environment of surging energy prices.

The Mitsui and Mitsubishi stakes in Sakhalin II are in addition to Japan’s investments in the Sakhalin 1 project, Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co. though a consortium including Japan Petroleum Exploration Co, Japan National Oil Corp, Itochu Corp and Marubeni Corp.

US major ExxonMobil, the operator of Sakhalin I, has already announced its pull-out from the oil venture where it said other shareholders in addition to the Japanese included Russian and Indian companies.

These are units of oil company Rosneft and the New Delhi-based Indian company ONGC-Videsh.

The Japanese companies have taken part in the Sakhalin I oil project since 2006 and they have been main customers for the oil shipments.

Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex), which operates the main LNG import terminal in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture and has a stake in an LNG receiving terminal in the Vietnamese port city of Haiphong, said it was also planning to expand its shale oil and gas interests in the US.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., the oil and gas operator with liquefied natural gas import terminal and Japanese pipelines assets, has agreed to cut losses and sell its stake to Malaysia’s Petronas in the Canadian North Montney shale-gas joint venture.