TotalEnergies Brunei sale
June 14 (LNGJ) - TotalEnergies has agreed to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary in LNG producing nation Brunei to the Hibiscus Petroleum group, a Malaysian independent oil and gas player, for $259 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Sultanate of Brunei on the island of Borneo has been an LNG exporter since 1973 and the shareholders are the Brunei Government, Shell and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.
Present in Brunei since 1986, TotalEnergies operated the Maharaja Lela-Jamalulalam field, located in the offshore Block B. The field’s average production of natural gas and condensate was more than 28,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2009, though only 9,000 boe in 2023, and was delivered to the Brunei LNG export plant.
Japanese LNG cargoes decline for a third month and drop by 8 percent for the fiscal year to the end of March
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports decreased for a third straight month and were also 8 percent lower for the whole fiscal year to the end of March as storage was still high amid falling spot prices.
European benchmark LNG prices drop to 26-month lows as margin widens with North Asian spot cargo values
Asian liquefied natural gas spot prices edged lower for August while the European Union wholesale gas benchmark plunged on the week to a 26-month low under $9 per million British thermal units - after being at $53 per MMBtu a year ago - as gas demand dropped on the Continent and EU gas storage was filling up.
Japanese LNG imports drop 10 percent as coal preferred for power even at twice last year's price
Japanese liquefied natural gas deliveries declined by almost 10 percent last month even as close to record deliveries were made by Australia and thermal coal was the preferred fuel over LNG for power generation.
Japan's JERA overhauls management with President and Chairman stepping down and Co-CEOs named
JERA Co. Inc, the largest buyer of liquefied natural gas for Japan, has overhauled its senior management structure and appointed co-Chief Executives and removed the positions of Chairman and President.
Japanese Minister Yasutoshi pledges to help Saudi Arabia stabilise oil price and sees Japan LNG deal in Oman
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister (METI) Nishimura Yasutoshi said during a tour of the Middle East that Japanese trading houses would soon sign an LNG supply agreement with the Sultanate of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula.
Japan’s LNG imports rebound by 10 percent as deliveries from Australia, Russia and the spot market rise
Japanese LNG imports have rebounded by almost 10 percent even as the year-on-year cost of the shipments have soared by more than 150 percent as deliveries increased from Australia, the spot market and Russia.
Japanese agency reveals results of surveys of Japan’s LNG buyers on LNG handling and contract clauses
Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (Jogmec), the agency helping secure a stable supply of oil and natural gas and other resources, has just published the results of two surveys on the volume of LNG handled by Japanese companies and the current status of destination restrictions in LNG sales and purchase agreements.
Jogmec was set up by the Tokyo Government in 2004 and has the full cooperation of all Japanese companies engaged in LNG.
The agency said that the latest surveys were aimed at “improving the flexibility and liquidity” of the LNG market to enhance energy security.
The survey on the “LNG Handling Volumes of Japanese Companies” revealed that they handled around 110 million tonnes of LNG in the fiscal year 2021.
The second survey on the “Destination Clauses and Price Indices in LNG SPAs” showed that the contract quantity with destination restrictions were improving for 10-year contracts through 2030.
“About 45 million tonnes, or 53 percent of the total, in the fiscal year 2021, had destination clauses compared with 21 million tonnes, or 43 percent of the total, in the fiscal years through to 2030,” said Jogmec.
LNG handled
“The LNG volumes handled by Japanese companies last year came to 109.57MT, showing a slight decrease of 0.73MT from the previous year. However, the Japanese companies have continuously achieved 100MT since fiscal 2019,” said the report.
Jogmec also noted that the FY2019 and FY2020 actual figures had been revised in this latest survey due to corrections of reports from the surveyed companies.
LNG imports in FY2021 totaled 71.46MT, a decrease of 4.9MT from the previous year, while the volume of the “external trade” increased by 4.17MT to 38.11MT, resulting in the LNG handling volume in FY2021 being at almost the same level as in FY2020.
The second survey looked at 10-year contracts from FY2021 through FY2030 and based on the annual contract quantity (ACQ).
The ACQ of the fixed-term SPAs concluded by Japanese companies was approximately 84MT in FY2021 and will amount to 49MT through FY2030.
As of FY2021, the ACQ for Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) and free-on-board (FOB) terms and their respective shares were approximately 50MT, or 59 percent, for DES terms and 34MT, or 41 percent, for FOB terms.
“As of FY2030, as the ACQ declines, the ACQ for DES and FOB terms is also to decrease to approximately 25MT and 24MT respectively,” said Jogmec.
European market stays strong with LNG dominant while Asia follows behind amid soaring spot charter costs
European natural gas and LNG markets entered a strongly priced November cycle as liftings from export plants were lower and spot charter prices much higher while North Asian spot LNG prices followed behind Europe’s increased demand as Nord Stream options destroyed.
Japan's LNG imports rise for third month as year-on-year costs double and amid more Russian deliveries
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports increased for a third successive month in June as they edged higher by 1.7 percent and year-on-year costs doubled while volumes increased from Asia, Australia and particularly Russia.
