LNG

Oct 13 (LNGJ) - The carrier “Marvel Crane” with 177,000 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to deliver the first November cargo to the UK from the US Gulf Coast. The volumes are due to be discharged at the Isle of Grain facility located on the Medway River southeast of London, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted from the Sempra-operated Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has held a naming ceremony for its latest liquefied natural gas carrier newbuild ordered by Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. to deliver shipments to Japan from the Sempra Energy-operated Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana.

The US Department of Energy has just published its latest liquefied natural gas export data illustrating the price differences and proportion of spot cargoes as well as other details of shipments from the four liquefaction plants in operation in May.

Since US LNG exports began more than three years ago in February 2016, the DoE said a total of 793 cargoes had been shipped on LNG carriers through May 2019 to 36 different countries. The average cargo amounted to 3.28 billion cubic feet.

Th US also sends regular ISO containers by cargo ship to the Caribbean nations of Barbados, the Bahamas and Haiti.

The top five countries by destination in May for LNG cargoes, representing 53.4 percent of the total US exports for the month, were: Mexico (20.2 Bcf, six cargoes), South Korea (18.1 Bcf), Spain (14.3 Bcf), India (13.9 Bcf), and the Netherlands (10.7 Bcf).

A total of 46 conventional cargoes were delivered in May compared with 42 in April, with 33 departing from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass in Louisiana, seven from Cheniere’s Corpus Christi facility in Texas, five from Dominion Energy’s Cove Point and one from the newest plant, Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG at Hackberry in Louisiana.

The top 10 nations receiving shipments since they started in February 2016 and continuing through May 2019 were: South Korea with 138 cargoes, Mexico with 120, Japan 70, China 65, India and Chile each with 40, Brazil, Jordan and Spain each with 29 and Turkey was in 10th place with 23 cargoes.

Among other leading European natural gas nations, the UK has received 22 shipments since February 2016, France 21 and the Netherlands 16.

The number of spot cargos totaled 434.0 Bcf, or 16.7 percent, of the 2,604.9 Bcf that has departed US shores since February 2016.

Prices of shipments from the Sabine Pass export point ranged from a low of $2.95 per million British thermal units compared to the highest price of $6.12 per MMBtu.

Among nations who paid the lowest price of $2.95 per MMBtu for Sabine Pass shipments were South Korea, Chile, India and Mexico.

The highest price for a Sabine Pass shipment was paid by Brazil and Argentina for a split cargo lifted on May 1 by the 152,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Seri Balquis”.

Brazil also paid the next highest price at $5.95 per MMBtu for a shipment lifted on May 6 by the 160,000 cubic metres capacity vessel, the “Cool Runner”.

Spain also paid $5.95 per MMBtu for a shipment loaded on May 17 into the 150,300 cubic metres capacity “LNG Jurojin”.

Prices at the export point of the seven short-term shipments from Cheniere’s Corpus Christi plant in Texas ranged from a low of $3.45 per MMBtu (shipped to the Netherlands) to a high of $4.51 per MMBtu (delivered to Argentina).

Prices of the five shipments from Dominion Energy’s Cove Point facility in Maryland were the highest from the four plants. They ranged from a low of $6.18 per MMBtu to a highest price of $7.82 per MMBtu.

Japanese buyers paid $7.82 per MMBtu and $7.44 per MMBtu for two shipments delivered by the Cove Point tolling agreement holders, Sumitomo Corp and Tokyo Gas.

Three cargoes were shipped by the other tolling agreement holder, India’s GAIL Global LNG, with a Spanish buyer paying $6.24 per MMBtu while Thailand and an Indian buyer each paid $6.18 per MMBtu for cargoes.

The one Cameron LNG cargo in May was delivered to the French import terminal at Dunkirk on board the 177,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Marvel Crane” at a cost $7.11 per MMBtu at the export point.

Other US LNG exports in May were shipped in ISO containers to Barbados and the Bahamas. In total eleven ISO containers were delivered in the month.

These two countries paid the same price of $10 per MMBtu. The Bahamas received six containers from the small-scale Haileah liquefaction plant in Florida and Barbados received five shipments from the facility.

The Dunkirk liquefied natural gas import terminal on the Channel Coast of France said it accommodated 37 LNG carriers during the first five months of the year and in June also received a cargo from the newest US export plant, Cameron LNG in Louisiana.

“This intense level of activity is due to a complex combination of factors linked to the supply of and demand for LNG on global markets as well as the appeal of the Dunkirk LNG terminal in the market of northwest Europe,” said Pierre Dumont, volumes manager at the Dunkirk LNG company.

The 177,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Marvel Crane” arrived with the US cargo on June 18 at the French terminal.

The Dunkirk facility was commissioned at the end of 2016 and is now owned and operated by a consortium comprising Fluxys of Belgium, operator of the Belgian Zeebrugge import terminal and insurance and banking groups from France and South Korea.

One of its advantages is that it offers easy access to European gas markets for new LNG cargo sources such as Russia and the US as well as traditional suppliers like Algeria, Qatar, Nigeria and Norway.

French energy major Total, a shareholder in the US Cameron plant, was one of the original shareholders in Dunkirk LNG with France’s main utility Engie, though both sold their Dunkirk stakes in 2018.

However, Total is still a supporter of the Dunkirk facility, which also receives Russian volumes from the Yamal plant in northern Siberia, where Total is also a stakeholder.

“The huge influx of LNG at our terminal is attributable, in part, to the supply of and demand for LNG on the global market,” said Dunkirk manager Dumont.

Supply is higher than expected due, in particular, to the production of LNG that was greater than initially foreseen at the Yamal LNG plant in Russia.

The Russians chose to channel these volumes towards the European market rather than Asia.

“However, the increase in supply occurs at a time when demand in Europe is stable and demand from Asia is rising more slowly than expected,” he added.

Dumont said that LNG producers have been forced to find the best possible outlets for their volumes while taking into account the market conditions.

“Under these market conditions, terminals in the northwest of Europe fulfil the market's expectations very well,” said Dumont.

“Dunkirk exceeds these expectations for at least two reasons,” he added.

“On the one hand, it offers access to both the French and Belgian markets and, on the other, it offers a competitive and environmental advantage thanks to the use of warm water from the Gravelines nuclear power plant to reheat the LNG and thereby turn it back into a gas (before it enters the transmission network), instead of using a more costly form of energy,” he explained.

“Our clients can therefore unload, store and regasify their LNG at our terminal under very favourable conditions,” stated Dumont.

The 177,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Marvel Crane” is scheduled to arrive on June 18 at the Dunkirk LNG import terminal on the Channel Coast of France carrying the first shipment from the US Cameron export plant at Hackberry in Louisiana.

The Dunkirk LNG terminal opened in 2016 and is now owned and operated by a consortium comprising Fluxys of Belgium, operator of the Belgian Zeebrugge import terminal and insurance and banking groups from France and South Korea.

French energy major Total, a shareholder in the Cameron plant, was one of the original shareholders in Dunkirk LNG with France’s main utility Engie, though both sold their stakes in 2018.

However, Total is still a supporter of the Dunkirk facility, which also receives Russian volumes from the Yamal plant in northern Siberia, where Total is also a stakeholder.

Cameron LNG is located on the Calcasieu Ship Channel and is majority-owned by Sempra Energy, the California-based utility. The other shareholders apart from Total are Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and Japan LNG Investment, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corp. and shipping company NYK Line.

The carrier “Marvel Crane” lifted the US cargo on May 31 and gave its destination as Dunkirk on June 10 in the latest shipping data received. The ship is owned by two other Cameron stakeholders, NYK Line and Mitsui.

The first phase of the Cameron project includes building the first three liquefaction Trains that will enable the export of around 12 million tonnes per annum of LNG, or about 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

The first Cameron cargo was loaded following a visit to the facility by US President Donald Trump.

Trump said in a speech that LNG exports have been a great jobs creator in the US and would generate billions in export revenues.

The facility is one of three LNG export plants Sempra is developing in the region, along with the Port Arthur project in Texas and the Costa Azul plant on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

Sempra is expected to take Total on as an investor in its other export projects in Texas and Mexico at the same time as the French company is backing another LNG plant in Russia, the Novatek-led Arctic LNG II project.

The Cameron plant is the fourth US LNG export plant to begin commercial operations after Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana, its Corpus Christi facility in Texas and Dominion Energy’s Cove Point plant in Maryland.