LNG

Oct 18 (LNGJ) - Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden has praised the contribution to LNG development at Shell of Integrated Gas and Renewable and Energy Solutions director Maarten Wetselaar, who will leave the company on October 25 after more than 25 years of service. Wetselaar will join Spanish energy company Cepsa as Chief Executive from January 2022.

   “I am immensely grateful to Maarten for his outstanding contribution to Shell and our customers, for his vision and drive in shaping a world-class LNG portfolio, and for laying the foundations of our power and renewable solutions business. I wish him well in his new role,” stated Van Beurden. Wael Sawan will replace Wetselaar as head of the Integrated Gas and Renewables division.

Demand for liquefied natural gas worldwide is forecast to hit 700 million tonnes by 2040 and Asia is expected to drive nearly 75 percent of this growth as Asian domestic gas production declines and LNG imports are used to tackle air quality concerns, according to the fifth Royal Dutch Shell annual outlook on LNG.

“For instance, China’s heavy-duty transport sector consumed nearly 13 million tonnes of LNG in 2020, almost doubling from 2018, to serve the fast-growing fleet of well over 500,000 LNG-fuelled trucks and buses,” the Shell report noted.

“LNG-fuelled shipping is also growing, with the number of vessels expected to more than double and global LNG bunkering vessels set to reach a total of 45 ships by 2023,” it said.

As demand grows, a supply-demand gap is expected to open in the middle of the current decade with less new production coming on-stream than previously projected.

“Just 3MT in new LNG production capacity was announced in 2020, down from an expected 60MT,” added the report.

Shell explained that because of the net-zero emissions targets companies are having to make, the LNG industry will need to innovate at every stage of the value chain to lower greenhouse-gas counts.

The Anglo-Dutch company noted that over the past year LNG prices hit a record low early in 2020 but ended the 12-month period at a six-year high as demand in parts of Asia recovered and winter buying increased against tightened supply.

“LNG provided flexible energy which the world needed during the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrating its resilience and ability to power people’s lives in these unprecedented times,” said Maarten Wetselaar, Director at Shell for Integrated Gas, Renewables and Energy Solutions.

“Around the world countries and companies, including Shell, are adopting net-zero emissions targets and seeking to create lower-carbon energy systems,” he added.

“As the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, natural gas and LNG have a central role to play in delivering the energy the world needs and helping power progress towards these targets,” stated Wetselaar.

LNG trade increased to 360MT in 2020 and despite the “unprecedented volatility” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic the industry is moving towards a period of expansion.

China and India led the recovery in demand for LNG following the outbreak of the pandemic with both countries increasing their LNG imports by 11 percent.

“Demand in Europe, alongside flexible US supply, helped to balance the global LNG market in the first half of 2020,” said the report.

“However, supply outages in other supply basins, structural constraints and extreme weather later in the year resulted in higher prices,” it added.

Keynote speakers at the first Gastech Virtual Summit, including Ministers from Singapore and Canada and the head of Integrated Gas at Royal Dutch Shell, have voiced optimism about the future of LNG and natural gas and their managed role in the energy transition.

The first Gastech Virtual Summit gets underway on Monday, September 7, under the title “Connecting the Gas, LNG and Energy Industry” and will run through September 11 as a replacement event for the postponed Conference & Exhibition scheduled for Singapore.

DMG Events of the UK has opened registration for the first Gastech Virtual Summit taking place from September 7-11, 2020, instead of the live traditional Conference & Exhibition scheduled for Singapore and now postponed.

Royal Dutch Shell said all conditions had been met for its final investment decision (FID) on a new LNG processing unit at Nigeria LNG, a project known as the Train 7 expansion.

Royal Dutch Shell’s Australian joint venture Arrow Energy has taken a final investment decision to develop the first phase of Arrow’s Surat Gas project in the state of Queensland to line up more LNG exports for China.

Royal Dutch Shell has exported its long-awaited first LNG cargo on the 173,400 cubic metres capacity carrier “Valencia Knutsen” from its massive Prelude floating LNG plant off northwest Australia, sealing the nation’s position as the world’s top exporter of the fuel.

Trinidad & Tobago, the Caribbean liquefied natural gas exporter from its plant at Point Fortin in Trinidad, has signed a new energy agreement with Royal Dutch Shell featuring an enhanced revenue package for the sale of LNG.

The agreement followed talks at Shell’s Dutch headquarters in The Hague involving Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley and Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden, as well as other officials and executives.

“The energy deal is the result of months of positive and relationship-building discussions between Shell and the Government,” said a statement from the PM’s office.

“The agreement reflects the mutual importance of the relationship and the value Shell has placed on Trinidad and Tobago,” it added, though no financial details were released.

The Anglo-Dutch company and Trinidad has also committed to continue their discussions surrounding the development of the energy sector.

The Caribbean nation’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Franklin Khan signed on behalf of the government while Derek Hudson, Vice President and Country Chairman of Shell Trinidad and Tobago signed on behalf of Shell.

Prime Minister Rowley also held talks with Shell executive Maarten Wetselaar who is the Integrated Gas and New Energies Director at Shell and is responsible for LNG.

Trinidad is one of the longest-standing LNG exporting nations and started its first Train in 1999. It quickly became the main supplier of LNG to the United States before the shale-gas boom enabled the US itself to join the exporter ranks.

Trinidad’s liquefaction plant, which has found new customers in South America, Europe and Asia, boosted its production last year by 14.2 percent to 11.63MT from its four Trains. The plant's main shareholders are Shell and BP of the UK.

In the past two years, the LNG plant has boosted its feed-gas resources with projects such as the Angelin development, the Juniper venture and the Trinidad Onshore Compression project.

Two other developments are planned. These are the Cassia Compression venture and the Matapal gas project for a discovery made in 2017. They are expected to come on stream in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Royal Dutch Shell has signed a further agreement with Russian natural gas company Gazprom to make progress on plans to build a liquefied natural gas export plant on the northwest Russian coast to supply global markets.