LNG

July 9 (LNGJ) - Italian major Eni has made an oil and natural gas discovery at the Yopaat-1 exploration well in Block 9 offshore Mexico. The preliminary estimates indicate discovered potential of around 300 million to 400 million barrels of oil equivalents of crude and associated gas in place.

   The Mexico discovery is located about 63 kilometres (40 miles) offshore in the mid-deep water of the Sureste Basin. Eni said the well has been drilled in a water depth of 525 metres and reached a total depth of 2,931 metres, finding about 200 metres net pay of hydrocarbon bearing sands. Block 9 is a 50-50 joint venture with Eni as operator and partnered by Spanish energy company Repsol.

Sempra, the US utility company with power and natural gas services centred on California and Texas and LNG developments in the US and Mexico through the Sempra Infrastructure subsidiary, posted solid third-quarter earnings and said it expected to increase capital investment by up to 20 percent above the current $40 billion over the next five years.

New Fortress Energy, the developer of LNG production, regasification and electricity projects and with a small shipping fleet, said its Genera subsidiary was selected by Puerto Rico to manage the US Caribbean territory’s power generation system.

June 8 (LNGJ) - Royal Vopak, the Netherlands-based global storage company with stakes in liquefied natural gas terminals and a new LNG import project for Hong Kong, has hosted its Capital Markets Day in Rotterdam and updated analysts on strategic priorities. “Vopak will grow its base in industrial and gas terminals by allocating €1 billion ($1.07Bln) to these activities by 2030. This will further support a long-term and steady cash flow generation. Vopak will continue to invest in the growing global gas markets and expand its network of LNG and LPG terminals at strategic locations,” said the company.

   “Vopak aims to further grow and maintain its position as market leader in industrial terminals and to improve the performance of the portfolio and targets an operating cash return of at least 10 percent by 2025. The company expects that the share of proportional capital employed in industrial and gas will further increase, while the share of oil and chemicals will gradually decline,” it added.

Royal Vopak, the Netherlands-based global storage company with four stakes in liquefied natural gas terminals and a new LNG import project for Hong Kong, reported a 7 percent increase in earnings to €827 million ($940M) from €780M in the previous year as soft business conditions persisted in energy storage.

New Fortress Energy has announced a cash distribution by Golar LNG Partners, an indirect subsidiary of New Fortress, the New York-based LNG-for-power company.

The US Department of Energy has just published its latest liquefied natural gas monthly export data showing rising prices for the six plants and with China again being the top monthly destination, while Spain overtook Mexico into fourth place for overall total shipments received.

Höegh LNG Partners, the US affiliate of Höegh LNG Holdings now partnered with the infrastructure unit of US investment bank Morgan Stanley, has reorganized part of its finances on a floating storage and regasification unit deployed in Indonesia and the subject of a dispute with the former charterer.

The Mexican state-run fuel distribution company CFEnergía is seeking expressions of interest from companies to build and operate a floating liquefied natural gas export facility at the Pacific port of Salina Cruz and an affiliated gas pipeline.

July 14 (LNGJ) - New Fortress Energy Inc. formally announced the start of operations at the LNG terminal in the port of Pichilingue in the northern Mexican state of Baja California Sur. “The delivery of more affordable and cleaner-burning natural gas is a significant milestone for Baja California Sur,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive of NFE. “Our facility will enable customers to significantly reduce emissions and costs by switching from oil-based fuels to natural gas,” he added.

   The Mexican terminal features NFE’s proprietary “ISOFlex” system, which allows larger LNG carrier vessels to transload LNG into ISO storage containers on offshore support vessels (OSVs) with a specialized manifold. “These ISO storage containers can be easily offloaded at container ports and onto trucks, which enables the reduction of time, permitting requirements and capital costs for the development of NFE’s terminals,” the New York-based company explained.