Chesapeake Energy advances with Southwestern acquisition as quarterly earnings hit by weak market dynamics
Chesapeake Energy Corp., the US natural gas producer with LNG interests and currently completing a merger with Southwestern Energy to create one of America’s biggest natural gas companies, reported a slump in profits and revenues in the first quarter, citing weak market dynamics.
LNG prices ease in Europe and Asia as spot shipping charter rates jump while EU storage hits records
Liquefied natural gas and wholesale pipeline gas prices and futures eased this week to be just above recent seasonal levels pre-2022 for the North Asian spot cargo market and European gas benchmarks as shipping spot charter rates surged and European Union gas storage levels continued their record build.
Oil prices jump and have knock-on effect on natural gas markets as Saudi Arabia cuts production
Crude oil prices jumped as much as 6.5 percent on April 3 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Oil prices said it was reducing production by 1.6 million barrels a day with the move having a knock-on effect on liquefied natural gas prices.
Australian LNG operator Santos posts doubling of LNG sales revenues while advancing expansions and backfill
Australian LNG operator Santos delivered a doubling of annual LNG sales revenues while advancing expansion plans in Australia and Papua New Guinea as prices rose with increasing demand even amid an Asia-Pacific economic slowdown.
First LNG carrier of the season departs from Yamal export plant on Northern Sea Route for Asia delivery
The first liquefied natural gas shipment of the season after the winter break has departed from the Russian Yamal LNG export plant on its way to the Far East via the Northern Sea Route.
Asian and European LNG cargo values stay at seasonally record high levels as liftings drop and charter rates rise
Prices remained strong in the liquefied natural gas spot cargo market as liftings from global export plants fell to their lowest level of 2022 and shipping charter rates jumped amid continued seasonally record high cargo values in Asia and Europe.
US Department of Energy issues two LNG export authorizations for more Cheniere Energy cargoes
The US Department of Energy has issued two long-term orders authorizing more liquefied natural gas shipments from the existing liquefaction and export facilities owned by Cheniere Energy at Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Corpus Christi in Texas.
The two DoE orders allow Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi more feed gas to liquefy and export. Sabine Pass started operations in February 2016.
The Cheniere plants can now have the additional flexibility to export the equivalent of 0.72 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as LNG to any country with which the US does not have a free trade agreement, including all of Europe.
When US LNG export plants were being developed for the first time in the lower 48 states the DoE was tasked with making sure there were export limits that protected US domestic natural gas needs as well.
“While US exporters are already exporting at or near their maximum capacity, with the issuances, every operating US LNG export project has approval from DoE to export its full capacity to any country where not prohibited by US law or policy,” said the DoE.
Top exporter
The statement noted that the US was now the top global exporter of LNG and exports are set to grow an additional 20 percent beyond current levels by the end of 2022 as additional capacity comes on stream.
In January 2022, the US supplied more than half of the LNG import needs of Europe.
“With the expected rise in LNG exports, the DoE is particularly focused on driving down methane emissions in the oil and gas sector both domestically and abroad,” added the statement.
It declared that US LNG remained an important component in global energy security.
“The DoE remains committed to finding ways to help our allies and trading partners with the energy supplies they need,” said the statement.
Cheniere announced in early February 2022 the completion of Train 6 at Sabine Pass in Cameron Parish in Louisiana, formally taking nameplate capacity to 27 million tonnes per annum.
The Corpus Christy facility has nameplate capacity of 13.5 MTPA from three Trains.
Cheniere recently initiated a lump sum, turnkey, engineering, procurement and construction contract with US LNG and energy engineering firm Bechtel Inc. for the Corpus Christi LNG plant expansion.
Bechtel has started early engineering, procurement and other site work for the Corpus Christi expansion, known by Cheniere as the Stage III Project.
The expansion will add up to seven mid-scale Trains, each with an expected liquefaction capacity of around 1.49 MTPA with a total production capacity of more than 10 MTPA.
LNG cargo liftings are steady as European gas prices rise with global futures for January and February
Liftings of liquefied natural gas cargoes were steady in the week as European gas benchmark prices rose and LNG futures for the US, Indian and North Asian markets for January and February 2022 gained ground.
LNG cargo liftings still at high levels as North Asia spot prices rise again along with European gas values
Demand for liquefied natural gas shipments from liquefaction plants in the Atlantic and Pacific Basins remained at reasonable levels as cargo liftings edged higher and North Asia spot prices increased again along with European gas values.
Global LNG cargo supplies ease off while prices stay firm amid positive trend of underlying demand
Cargo liftings fell slightly at export plants worldwide, though North Asia prices were still substantially higher than those in Europe and US Gulf Coast futures held up amid adequate future demand forecasts.
