LNG

Australian liquefied natural gas operator Santos has yet to detail any additional progress in its merger talks the Australian peer Woodside Energy for a combination valued at A$88 billion (US$58Bln), though has made advances on the Barossa gas project for Darwin LNG and signed deals with two Japanese companies for the Moomba carbon-capture and storage venture.

JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp., a participant in Asia-Pacific LNG projects in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, has signed an accord to initiate discussions about acquiring interests in five natural gas fields offshore Peninsular Malaysia.

The move to set up talks comes in the form of a Heads of Agreement (HOA) between JX Nippon and Petronas Carigali, an exploration and production unit of Malaysian state energy company Petronas.

The five Petronas gas fields are called Bujang, Inas, Guling, Sepat and Tujoh and are located offshore Kerteh in eastern Malaysia.

JX Nippon said it conducted a joint study with Japanese state agency Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (Jogmec) from April 2020 until September 2021 to commercialize the fields which have a particularly high carbon-dioxide level.

The Japanese plan involves bringing the gas fields into production and in an environmentally-friendly way by capturing CO2 from the produced gas and reinjecting it into nearby mature gas fields by using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.

Feasible

“Since the study concluded that the development of such high CO2 gas field is feasible with low environmental impact by utilizing CCS technology, JX came to the decision to further evaluate these gas fields and work together towards submitting the business value proposal to Petronas,” explained JX Nippon.

The Japanese Jogmec agency has since the study with JX Nippon changed its name to the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security.

“JX Nippon said that it understood that this initiative contributes to not only stable supply of natural gas to Peninsular Malaysia but at the same time expands its business in Malaysia which is one of the core countries for JX,” said the Japanese company.

Adopting the CCS solution is in line with the strategy of JX Nippon, which is part of the Japanese ENEOS Group.

A signing ceremony on the JX Nippon-Petronas accord was held in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur involving Chief Executive Hasliza Othman and JX Nippon’s Managing Director in Malaysia, Yasuto Ariga.

The five gas fields are known in Malaysia as the BIGST fields and are part of a hydrocarbon cluster.

“The gas supply from the BIGST fields is important for Peninsular Malaysia’s energy security given the significant potential that exists within the cluster,” explained Petronas.

“CCS technology will be a key solutions in monetising the fields since these fields contain high CO2 and their development will be the first CCS project in Peninsular Malaysia,” added Petronas.

The Papua New Guinea LNG export plant, operated by US major ExxonMobil Corp., has fully re-started operations and exports with the second processing Train set to ramp up to full capacity during May following a temporary shutdown of operations when associated infrastructure was damaged in the February 26 earthquake.

ExxonMobil Corp., operator of the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas export plant near Port Moresby, has announced a more than 80 percent increase in estimated reserves in a key natural gas field underpinning the LNG expansion in the Oceania nation and said it would have a lasting economic impact for the people of PNG.

JX Nippon Oil & Energy, a shareholder in the Papua New Guinea LNG plant and with supply agreements with Malaysia and Indonesia, said it had started collaboration with Hokkaido Gas Co., including joint use of JX Nippon’s Kushiro regasification terminal and the establishment of a separate natural gas joint venture.

JX Nippon Oil and Energy said it had begun commercial operations from a the new liquefaction processing Train 9 at the Bintulu LNG production plant in Sarawak, Malaysia, operated by state energy company Petronas.

June 3 (LNGJ) - Japanese energy company JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. has agreed to sell to Norway’s Statoil its 45 percent equity share and operatorship of the UK licence for the Utgard natural gas field in the North Sea. The transaction gives Statoil 100 percent ownership. Utgard, previously known as Alfa Sentral, is a gas and condensate field spanning the UK-Norway median line. It is planned to be developed as a tie-back to existing infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for the Sleipner gas field, located about 250 kilometres (160 miles) west of the Norwegian port of Stavanger and which Statoil operates.