LNG

JERA Co. Inc, Japan’s biggest liquefied natural gas importer and utility company, said it expected the LNG demand-supply imbalance to be less serious this winter season than last because the forecast milder weather, the high storage held in Europe and the delayed resurgence of the economy in China.

JERA, which buys around 35 million tonnes per annum of LNG and is Japan’s biggest fossil-fuel electricity generator being owned jointly by Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric, the two largest power companies, gave the LNG market forecast in a company earnings presentation

The presentation in Tokyo was led by JERA President and Chief Executive Hisahide Okuda.

JERA, which currently oversees the operations and provides fuel for a total of 26 power plants in Japan and imports LNG into 11 of Japan’s network of 37 terminals, said the only issue to be concerned with was that of the unexpected.

Potential issues

“Since overall global supply has not grown, there is the potential for LNG production issues on the supply side - a problem at any LNG plant could cause prices to jump. We believe, therefore, that the environment for LNG procurement remains unpredictable,” Okuda explained.

“Turning to LNG fundamentals, although demand for LNG is growing, particularly in Europe, LNG supply is not expected to catch up to that demand until around 2025, leading to a tight supply-and-demand situation,” the CEO said.

“However, at JERA, in addition to building an LNG portfolio that combines long-term, short-term, and spot contracts, we also secure a stable fuel supply by flexibly optimizing procurement and resale through JERA Global Markets,” Okuda added.

He noted that the company was also following the “Strategic Buffer LNG (SBL)” plan proposed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) whereby at least one LNG carrier-load of surplus LNG per month between December and February can be supplied to any domestic operators as determined by METI.

According to METI and its Policy Subcommittee on Electricity and Gas, Japan will have a winter’s reserve margin exceeding the 3 percent minimum necessary to ensure stable supply.

“JERA, however, is taking nothing for granted. We will be doing our utmost to secure both kilowatts and kilowatt hours in order to ensure stable power supply,” CEO Okuda stated.

Older plants

“JERA is moving steadily forward in replacing older thermal power plants with state-of-the-art facilities. Six units, totaling 4.32 million kilowatts, whose replacement has already been completed, have begun commercial operation,” he added.

The CEO declared that looking to 2024, JERA would continue moving forward with an additional 2.99 million kilowatts in power plant replacement.

“We believe that moving decisively in this way to upgrade power sources is an important part of ensuring safety,” Okuda said.

In addition, given the smooth progress of trial operations at Yokosuka Thermal Power coal-fired power plant’s Unit 2, we will be moving its start of commercial operation forward from February 2024 to December 2023, which will also contribute to this winter’s supply capacity,” the CEO said.

The Yokosuka coal-fired plant is described by JERA as a “high-efficiency coal-fired power station that uses an ultra-supercritical (USC) power generation” system.

“Its generating capacity of 650 megawatts will contribute to a stable electricity supply,” Okuda added.

The JERA CEO said that the company was also moving forward with carbon-capture and storage projects in Asia.

JERA is carrying out joint research with Japanese LNG and energy engineers JGC Holdings Corp. and the Indonesian state electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) on a project to introduce and commercialise CCS for thermal power.

“With these projects and others, we are collaborating on decarbonisation with a growing number of Asian countries including Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore,” Okuda said.

Dec 3 (LNGJ) - JGC Holdings Corp., the Japanese energy and LNG projects engineer, said it was awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract, along with consortium partner Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea, for a nearshore floating LNG facility in Malaysia for national oil and gas company Petronas.

   Petronas had launched a FEED competition for the FLNG project with a minimum production capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum using feed gas supplied via an existing pipeline from an offshore gas field in the Malaysian state of Sabah. “Upon completion of the FEED competition, the engineering, procurement and construction contract will be awarded by Petronas, subject to a final investment decision, to the successful contractor,” said JGC.

Nov 11 (LNGJ) - JGC Holdings Corp., with LNG contracts in Canada, Mozambique and Nigeria, reported a jump in first-half net profits as sales increased to 219.9 billion Japanese yen ($1.9Bln) from 199.4Bln yen ($1.7Bln) in the same six months of 2020, while forecasting an increase in LNG contracts in the next couple years. JGC’s profits in the period came to $48.4Bln yen versus 3.9Bln yen in the prior-year’s first half.

   JGC said outstanding LNG contracts were valued at 408Bln yen ($3.6Bln). These included LNG Canada in British Columbia and the Mozambique FLNG venture in southeast Africa. Other oil and gas sector contracts include a major oil refinery overhaul at Basra in Iraq. “Developments in large LNG projects are likely in fiscal 2022 and later,” said JGC.

Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has awarded a licence for a project to establish the West African nation’s first floating liquefied natural gas production plant and run by a Nigerian oil and gas company rather than an international energy major.

JGC Corp. of Japan has been awarded an engineering contract in the Sultanate of Oman by French major Total for what will be the world’s first liquefied natural gas production plant built specially to supply the shipping fuel market on the Arabian Peninsula.

JGC Corp. of Japan, one of the leading global energy engineering companies with successful project completions such as Ichthys LNG in Australia and the Russian Yamal venture, has named its senior executive teams in an overhaul to create a holding company and separate new divisions.

JGC Corp., the Japanese energy and LNG engineering company, improved its liquefied natural gas backlog as it planned a corporate overhaul to be more agile in pursuing engineering, procurement and construction contracts.

JGC Corp. of Japan, one of the leading global LNG engineering companies, has been praised by the influential Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for its use of digital technology in liquefaction plant construction and for onstream operations.

JGC Corp. of Japan, one of the leading global energy engineering companies, has posted lower sales and income in the third quarter of its fiscal year as it prepared to take on the LNG Canada liquefaction and export project in British Columbia.