LNG

Fluor Corp. of US and Japan’s JGC Corp. of Japan have completed the final weld on first liquefaction Train at the LNG Canada joint venture at Kitimat on the Pacific Coast province of British Columbia.

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.

The Canadian native American Haisla Nation of British Columbia and Pembina Pipeline Corp., who are partners in the development of Cedar LNG, have signed an accord with third parties to move forward with the venture proposed for the Douglas Channel.

TC Energy Corp., whose current ventures include the building of pipelines in the US, Mexico and Canada, said it had made “monumental progress” on the Coastal GasLink in British Columbia linking gas fields to the Shell-led LNG Canada venture and had achieved mechanical completion ahead of the year-end target.

The update came in its earnings as TC Energy reported a quarterly net loss of C$197 million (US$143M) versus a C$841M (US$612M) net profit in the same three months of 2022.

This was largely due to the after-tax impairment charge of C$1.18Bln (US$858M) for the three months to the ended of September 2023 related to TC Energy's equity investment in Coastal GasLink Pipeline partnership project company.

Calgary, Alberta-based TC Energy reported that net income for the nine months from January to September because of the impairment had dropped to C$1.36Bln from C$2.08Bln in the previous year.

“The team’s exceptional safety and construction execution on this challenging project means that we have reached 100 percent pipeline installation, including the successful hydrotesting of the full 670km (Coastal GasLink) pipeline length,” said François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive.

On track

“The project remains on track with the approximately C$14.5Bln cost estimate,” added Poirier.

TC Energy’s five divisions include Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines, US Natural Gas Pipeline, Mexican Natural gas Pipeline, Liquids Pipeline and Energy and Power Solutions.

“We are also delivering on our 2023 strategic priorities, including strengthening the balance sheet with the recent receipt of C$5.3Bln of asset sale proceeds that will be utilized for debt repayment and funding, along with maximizing the value of our assets with the announced intention to spin-off our Liquids Pipelines business,” the CEO explained.

At the start of October 2023 TC Energy completed the sale of 40 percent stakes for a total of C$5.3 billion (US$3.9Bln) in two US assets, Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission, transporters of 20 percent of US LNG feed-gas volumes.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company confirmed that the Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf stakes was completed to the buyer, the New York-headquartered asset management firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

US natural gas

The Canadian company described GIP as a “strong and reputable strategic and financial partner” that would help it unlock incremental value on the Columbia gas systems.

The Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf pipelines span more than 15,000 miles across the North American natural gas network and are underpinned by strong long-term natural gas supplies and a rate-regulated commercial framework.

The company noted in its earnings highlights that quarterly US Gas Pipeline net profits rose to C$782M from C$714M and in the nine months to C$2.57Bln from C$1.73Bln because of US LNG feed-gas deliveries.

TC Energy said that US Natural Gas Pipelines LNG deliveries in the third quarter averaged 3.1 billion cubic feet per day, an increase from the third quarter of 2022.

The US Pipelines division also achieved a new record of deliveries to power generators of 5.2 Bcf on July 28, 2023.

TC Energy said that it delivered approximately 7 percent comparable gross earnings (EBITDA) growth of C$2.6Bln in the third quarter compared with $2.5Bn in the same three months of 2022.

Canada and Mexico

Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL), TC Energy’s natural gas gathering and transportation system for the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin connecting most of the natural gas production in western Canada to domestic and export markets, saw receipts average 14.0 Bcf per day, up 0.5 Bcf/d from the third quarter 2022.

NGTL System daily receipts reached 14.6 Bcf on August 6, 2023, the highest single day average on the pipeline.

TC Energy was also making progress together with Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) on the Southeast Gateway Project.

This consists of the construction of a marine pipeline that will transport natural gas, connecting the supply from Tuxpan, Veracruz, to delivery points in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz and in Paraíso in Tabasco state.

“The Southeast Gateway Pipeline project continues to progress with its US$4.5Bln cost estimate and schedule,” said the company.

“Land rights and rights of way negotiations have closed and all critical permits for onshore construction have been received. We are advancing construction of onshore facilities and landfalls,” said the company.

“Offshore engineering is complete and offshore installation expected to commence prior to the end of 2023,” it added

In other Mexican projects, TC Energy placed the lateral section of the Villa de Reyes (VdR) pipeline into commercial service.

TC Energy also successfully completed two open seasons on Marketlink, supporting the sustained demand for Canadian crude on the Keystone Pipeline and Marketlink systems.

Gazprom, the Russian pipeline natural gas giant and LNG producer, said it was working to boost liquefaction capacity at various sites to match the Sakhalin LNG export plant in the Far East, particularly at the Ust-Luga plant in the Gulf of Finland.

TC Energy Corp., whose current projects include the building of the Coastal GasLink pipeline for LNG Canada, has completed the sale of 40 percent stakes for a total of C$5.3 billion (US$3.9Bln) in two US assets, Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission, transporters of 20 percent of US LNG feed-gas volumes.

Russian natural gas company Novatek has plans to start commercial shipments from the Arctic LNG II project in mid-January 2024 and would likely send three to five cargoes per month eastwards to the Asian market, including China, while Russia’s Sakhalin LNG plant in the Far East has re-started after scheduled maintenance.

TC Energy Corp., whose main current project is the building of the Coastal GasLink pipeline for the LNG Canada venture, has agreed to sell 40 percent stakes for C$5.2 billion (US$3.9Bln) in the two US assets, Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission, the transporters of substantial US LNG feed-gas volumes.

Three leading liquefied natural gas market participants, Petronas of Malaysia, Mitsui & Co and Japan and French TotalEnergies have signed an agreement to develop a carbon-capture and storage (CCS) project in Southeast Asia as the region tries to keep pace with Europe, the US and Australian on such ventures.

The three partners said they would evaluate several carbon-dioxide storage sites in the Malay Basin, including both saline aquifers and depleted offshore fields.

“This partnership aims to develop a CO2 merchant storage service to decarbonize industrial customers in Asia,” they stated.

TotalEnergies is the most active among the three on carbon joint ventures and is already developing storage capacity of 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2030 through significant industrial projects such as Northern Lights in Norway and Aramis in the Netherlands.

Existing technologies

Toru Matsui, a Senior Executive Managing Officer at Mitsui, said CCS is based on existing technologies and can be seen as an affordable solution to decarbonize the hard-to-abate emitters.

“Mitsui will utilize its expertise in the oil and gas upstream activities and extensive business networks to jointly work with Petronas and TotalEnergies to develop a CCS value chain project in Malaysia,” Matsui stated.

“In Asia, where countries such as South Korea and Japan are aiming to cut their emissions the development of a CCS value chain for hard-to-abate industrial emissions will require a specific regulatory framework and significant investment,” the companies noted.

Through this agreement, the partner said they would study several potential storage sites, determine the best technical means to deliver CO2 to Malaysia from industrial clusters in the region and develop the most appropriate business framework for commercialization of a carbon storage service in Malaysia.

“Petronas is proud to collaborate with forward-looking partners such as TotalEnergies and Mitsui in developing solutions through CCS to move us closer towards a lower-carbon future,” said Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group Chief Executive of Petronas.

“The strategic partnership demonstrates Petronas’ commitment to position Malaysia as a regional CCS hub to capture opportunities in the energy transition with a focus on reducing the carbon footprint of our operations to continue delivering the energy needs of today,” he added.

TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said the company was pleased to join forces with Petronas and Mitsui on the carbon storage hub project in Malaysia to support decarbonization in Asia.

“We will bring to the partnership our strong CCS expertise, anchored in Europe with a first integrated project in Norway due to start next year and several other projects,” Pouyanné added.

Canadian liquefied natural gas will be in the spotlight as the world’s energy leaders take the stage at LNG2023, the pre-eminent meeting of the international LNG industry set to take place soon in Vancouver in British Columbia.

The LNG and natural gas industry will meet from July 10 to July 13 for a conference and exhibition hosted by the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) and which is the 20th edition of the largest triennial LNG event.

Up to 15,000 delegates and stakeholders from more than 85 countries are expected to attend LNG2023.

The organisers said that the event would feature more than 250 speakers and 150 exhibitors, providing delegates an essential voice in the “vital discourse on LNG’s role in ensuring future energy stability, sustainability and affordability” in the years to come.

“Canada is on the cusp of becoming an LNG exporting leader in a world demanding reliable, sustainable sources of responsibly produced energy,” says Jason Klein, the Chief Executive of LNG Canada, the Shell-led project in BC. Klein will open the conference on July 10 with a leadership dialogue session.

Global security

Klein intends to talk about ways the LNG Canada joint venture under construction in Kitimat on the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation can help provide global energy security while reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions by supplying LNG to displace coal as an energy source in Asia.

“Our future LNG business will provide security of supply for global markets that rely on Canada’s natural gas reserves to fuel their economies, reduce global GHG emissions as natural gas replaces the use of coal and brings significant economic growth and stability to British Columbia,” Klein explained.

Along with the many Canadian delegates and exhibitors, several Canadian industry and Indigenous leaders will represent the country at the global event.

Crystal Smith, Chair of the First Nations LNG Alliance, and Sharleen Gale, Chief Councillor of the Fort Nelson First Nation, will join energy leaders in discussing the important role LNG projects play in Indigenous reconciliation.

Also set to speak is Greg Ebel, CEO of Canada-based Enbridge Inc., which is a leading pipeline natural gas company and a growing supplier of North American LNG feed gas. Ebel will discuss LNG’s role in “facilitating an orderly” energy transition.

Mike Rose, President and CEO of energy company Tourmaline, has said he will focus on how the environmental impact of the LNG supply chain has been reduced through innovations in methane and carbon emissions mitigation.

The Canadian Gas Association said it intended to showcase Canadian organizations and innovations in a dedicated Canadian industry pavilion.

“CGA members include energy distribution and transmission companies, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers of goods and services to the industry and meet 38 percent of Canada’s energy needs,” the body noted.

Essential forum

Mel Ydreos, Executive Director of LNG2023, said the event would be an essential forum to understand the evolving policy environment and the latest technological advances.

“LNG will be crucial to resolving the global energy crisis and securing a reliable pathway to deeper decarbonisation,” stated Ydreos.

LNG2023 is presented by the International Gas Union (IGU), GTI Energy and the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR).

For information or tickets visit www.lng2023.org