LNG

The United States government forecasts that the global liquefied natural gas markets in the current winter season would likely be balanced through to the end of March 2024 even as geopolitical, weather and other risks remained.

Japanese energy group JERA Co Inc., one of the world's biggest importers of liquefied natural gas, is expected to expand its Asian business into China as well as other nations in the region.

Siemens Energy said its HL-class gas-fired power technology is poised to enable particularly low-emission, economical and flexible power generation from mid-2024 for Taiwan's increasing LNG imports.

Taiwan in July 2021 signed a new LNG supply with Qatar Petroleum for 1.25 million tonnes per annum of cargoes as the Taiwanese use more of the fuel and expand their infrastructure.

Taiwan is still Asia’s fifth-largest importer after North Asia’s top three of Japan, China and South Korea and with India in fourth place.

The Taiwanese are constructing a third LNG import terminal to meet increasing demand after imports rose 6 percent last year to 17.75 million tonnes.

Under the Taiwan expansion plans, the national energy company CPC Corp. is developing its third LNG import terminal in the Taoyuan district of Datan Borough.

The first phase is under construction and could be completed by 2023. A second expansion phase is also proposed with the target of full commissioning by 2025.

The first expansion of Taiwan’s existing Tai-Chung LNG terminal was completed at the end of 2019.

Further work is planned, including the addition of another berth and associated tanks, to be carried out in two phases.

The 1.8 MTPA expansion project at Taiwan’s second terminal, the Yung-An facility, including three new storage tanks and related regasification facilities, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Consortium

Siemens Energy, together with its consortium partner CTCI Corp, the leading Taiwanese engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company, will build the Sun Ba Power Phase II combined-cycle power plant.

“The plant will be an important building block in Taiwan's energy transition, which aims to shift from coal and nuclear power to environmentally friendly gas-fired power plants and renewable energies,” explained Munich-based Siemens Energy.

“The Sun Ba II facility will be built in Tainan in southwest Taiwan, and have an installed electrical capacity of 1,100 megawatts (MW),” added the company.

“It will be fired with regasified liquefied natural gas and Siemens Energy will also provide long-term service for the plant's core components,” it stated.

The customer is the independent power producer Sun Ba Power Corp.

“We are very excited to contribute to the energy transition of Taiwan with our leading HL-class gas turbine technology,” said Karim Amin, Executive Vice President Generation at Siemens Energy.

“This technology offers substantial value for Sun Ba Power Corp.'s project, as it combines high power density with world-class efficiencies,” added Amin.

“As a result, a large amount of electricity can be produced at the lowest possible cost while driving significant CO2 reductions at the same time,” he explained.

As one of the world's foremost manufacturers of semiconductors and a technology leader, Taiwan depends on secure and affordable power supply.

“Since Taiwan must import its entire natural gas requirements as LNG at comparatively high costs, the efficiency of gas-fired power plants has a particularly strong impact on their economic viability,” declared Siemens Energy.

Sun Ba II is designed as a multi-shaft combined-cycle power plant in which two gas turbines and one steam turbine each drive its own electrical generator.

Siemens Energy's scope of supply includes the plant’s power island, consisting of two SGT6-9000HL gas turbines, one SST-5000 steam turbine, three SGen6-2000P generators, two heat-recovery steam generators and the SPPA-T3000 control system.

“The service contract includes long-term service over 25 years for both gas turbines, the generators, the steam turbine and the heat recovery steam generators,” said Siemens Energy. 

Royal Dutch Shell reported a jump in first-quarter profits even as LNG sales volumes fell almost 17 percent and earnings from the Integrated Gas division slumped from a year ago.

India’s liquefied natural gas imports fell for a third month and by over 20 percent amid a slow economic recovery because of the ongoing effects of Covid-19, while the nation was still working on a better geographic spread of regasification facilities.

Worldwide liquefied natural gas export plants increased their overall liftings, apart from in the US where the markets were affected locally for natural gas and globally for oil by freezing weather causing power outages that hit US output, while North Asia spot LNG prices rose on firm demand.

Japanese contracted spot LNG cargo prices for May fell to a record low of $2.20 per million British thermal compared with $5.40 per MMBtu in May 2019 amid the current over-supply and the commercial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first US LNG cargo for more than a year is heading for the Chinese port of Tianjin, east of Beijing, from the Cameron export plant in Louisiana operated by Sempra Energy.

Australia energy company Santos, a shareholder in three LNG export plants, reported record annual free cash flow and a rise in profits even amid lower prices, offset by a slowdown in marketing in Asia because of coronavirus.

Singapore LNG spot cargo prices increased as North Asian shipments moved to higher ground above US$5.00 per million British thermal units and as October quotations arrived in the market.