LNG

French major TotalEnergies has provided revised key indicators for the forthcoming second-quarter earnings where oil and gas production and the LNG, power and downstream businesses would be affected.

Santos Ltd, the Australian operator of two liquefied natural gas export plants and a main shareholder in Papua New Guinea LNG assets, has seen its shares surge on take-over speculation, separately involving the Saudi Arabian Oil Company and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

Santos Ltd, the Australian operator of two liquefied natural gas export plants and a main shareholder in Papua New Guinea LNG assets, has signed a long-term supply deal with Hokkaido Gas Co., the Japanese utility.

The Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), the nation's main natural gas wholesaler and assets operator, and US energy major ExxonMobil Corp have signed a cooperation deal on liquefied natural gas trading.

The Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, who was in the US for talks, confirmed the accord in a statement after several months of negotiations.

“With this agreement, which is planned to be long-term, we will take another step in diversifying our resources,” stated Bayraktar.

“We are among the few countries in the world with ample LNG regasification capacity and we will continue to contribute to the energy supply security of both our country and our region,” the minister declared.

Value of deal

Minister Bayraktar had also mentioned last month in an interview that Turkey was in talks with ExxonMobil on a supply agreement worth more than $1 billion.

Bayraktar had said at the time that negotiations were ongoing with ExxonMobil for 2.5 million tonnes of LNG, valued at around $1.1Bln and lasting up to 10 years.

Turkey has varied LNG supply sources and has half a dozen natural gas pipelines bringing in Turkish supplies and traversing its territory to deliver volumes to other nations.

Russia is a big supplier of pipeline gas to Turkey, accounting for more than 40 percent of its consumption in 2023.

The Gazprom BlueStream gas pipeline to Turkey is 1,213 kilometres (754 miles) in length and with design capacity of 16 billion cubic metre per annum, while the Russian TurkStream gas pipeline is about 930km long and with capacity of 31.5 Bcm.

Turkey is additionally the main transit nation for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the final leg of the 3,500km Southern Gas Corridor pipeline network for Azerbaijan gas, which came on stream in 2020 and supplies primarily Greece, the Balkans and Italy.

Main LNG suppliers

Turkey’s main LNG suppliers over the past years have included the US, Algeria and Egypt.

US LNG data shows that the Turks are currently the eighth-largest recipients of US LNG cargoes since 2016 and receive at least six shipments per month.

BOTAŞ, the signatory of the accord with ExxonMobil, builds and operates natural gas pipelines in Turkey and accounts for most of the nation’s wholesale market.

The company runs the Marmara Eregesli LNG import terminal as its main source of cargoes while several floating facilities also operate.

Turkey has received LNG since 1994, first from Algeria and later from countries like Qatar and Nigeria and then from the US as well.

ExxonMobil’s LNG portfolio is wide and varied from Qatar itself to Papua New Guinea.

It is additionally an upstream partner of QatarEnergy worldwide in addition to having supplies from Ras Laffan.

QatarEnergy is also the lead developer of the Golden Pass LNG export project in Texas that will come on stream in 2025 and in which ExxonMobil has a 30 percent stake.

Australian and Papua New Guinea liquefied natural assets owner Santos posted a first-quarter decline in LNG sales revenues as prices dropped in various operations, though reported progress in projects in Australia to boost gas resources. 

Santos said overall revenues in the first three months of 2024 fell to US$1.39 billion from US$1.63Bln in the prior-year quarter, including LNG, domestic gas, crude oil, condensate and liquefied petroleum gas.

Quarterly LNG sales alone amounted to US$901 million, down from US$1.07Bln in the same quarter of 2023.

LNG shipments

Santos’s LNG projects shipped 53 cargoes in the first quarter, of which five were sold on a Japan-Korea Marker-linked basis, all from PNG offtake.

The company said average realised LNG prices fell to US$12.68 million British thermal units in the first quarter from $14.46 MMBtu in the same quarter of 2023.

However, the LNG price was slightly higher than the prior quarter price of US$12.33 MMBtu to the end of December, while realised prices were higher for oil-linked sales contracts reflecting the lagged Japan Customs-cleared Crude (JCC) prices.

Three-month lagged JCC averaged US$92.29 a barrel in the first quarter of 2024 compared with US$83.08 a barrel in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland sent out 27 cargoes, two fewer than in the previous quarter and the same as in the prior-year quarter.

Santos said 60 onshore coal-seam gas well were drilled and 47 connected for the Gladstone plant during the first three months of 2024 to maintain output from the Fairview, Arcadia and Roma CSG fields.

The PNG plant at Caution Bay operated by ExxonMobil Corp. shipped 27 cargoes compared with 30 in the previous three months and 28 in the prior-year quarter.

PNG expansion

“Steady production continued at PNG LNG, supported by strong production from Santos-operated fields. LNG production was down on the previous quarter due to a combination of Hides field natural decline and annual preventative maintenance undertaken at the Central Processing Facility during the quarter,” Santos explained.

French major TotalEnergies, operator of the Papua LNG project to expand PNG LNG production, has advised Santos that it would keep working with contractors to agree commercially-viable engineering, procurement and construction contracts to reach an expected final investment decision by 2025.

Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher said the “strong underlying business performance, combined with a disciplined focus on operational excellence” delivered a “robust” first-quarter result.

“The first quarter brought strong free cash flow which provides a solid foundation for the year ahead. It positions us well to fund shareholder returns, backfill and sustain our existing business, complete our major projects and grow our Santos Energy Solutions business,” Gallagher said.

“I am very pleased that Barossa pipelaying activities are now almost complete and all other Barossa activities are progressing well with first gas expected in the third quarter of 2025,” said Gallagher on the project that will help resume LNG output at the Darwin liquefaction plant in the Northern Territories.

Barossa gas update

The existing Bayu-Undan field continued to produce gas for the Darwin plant through the first quarter for the domestic market.

“The asset is expected to reach end of field life in the second quarter of 2024,” said Santos.

The Barossa gas and condensate project to backfill Darwin LNG is currently 70.6 percent complete and the integration of the topside modules on the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) platform continued in Singapore with 13 of 16 modules successfully loaded onto the hull.

The company added that installation of the gas export pipeline for Darwin LNG commenced in November 2023 with 213 kilometres of the 262km pipeline completed to the end of the first quarter. Full completion was expected before the start of May.

Gallagher said that the company’s Pikka oil project in Alaska had made excellent progress over the winter months and was on track for first production in 2026.

“Barossa and Pikka are world-class projects that will be transformative for Santos and set the company up with long-term, stable cash flows for the next 10-15 years at least,” the CEO said.

Gallagher explained that the company’s Moomba carbon-capture and sequestration project in south Australia was on scheduled for the first injections of CO2 this year and would “a game-changer for decarbonising” of Santos operations.

“We can now see line of sight to our major projects progressively coming online in 2024, 2025 and 2026, putting us in a strong position to deliver sustainable, long-term shareholder returns,” Gallagher stated. 

TotalEnergies Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné has held discussions with James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, on the current status of the PNG LNG expansion called the Papua LNG joint venture.

Inpex Corp., the Japanese operator of the Ichthys LNG plant in Australia and developer of the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia, has signed a natural gas and decarbonisation deal with Ashikaga City north of Tokyo known for its historic trees, flower beds and pristine water to supply gas from the next phase of cleaner LNG projects.

Santos, the Australian LNG operator and owner of assets in Papua New Guinea, said it would continue to work through land access, native title, pipeline licensing and the environmental approvals processes to get Narrabri Gas volumes and the Hunter Gas Pipeline ready for a final investment decision and to provide supplies for the East Coast of Australia.

The Narrabri Gas Project is 100 percent committed to the domestic market and could supply up to 50 percent of the natural gas needs of New South Wales.

Santos has maintained that gas produced close to market will always have a cost advantage over gas imported from Western Australia or from overseas and would help to put downward pressure on domestic gas and energy prices for NSW customers.

Gladstone LNG plant operator Santos, based in Adelaide, is developing its own domestic gas volumes called the Narrabri project in NSW and which would supply the largest Australian city Sydney.

The Narrabri project is a coal-seam gas venture located near the state border between Queensland and NSW.

The venture is based on developing the CSG in the northwest of NSW with up to 850 wells and which Santos has always pointed out would be much less expensive than gas from anywhere else.

LNG interests

Santos also operates the Darwin LNG in the Northern Territory of Australia. It additionally has stakes in the Papua New Guinea LNG export plant operated by US major ExxonMobil Corp. and in the expansion project called Papua LNG.

“Santos notes the decision by the Full Federal Court to allow the appeal against the determination by the National Native Title Tribunal that proposed future acts, being the grants of Petroleum Production Lease Application Numbers 13, 14, 15 and 16 for the Narrabri Gas Project, may be done,” said Santos.

“The Court has determined the National Native Title Tribunal erred at law by declining to have regard to evidence on climate impacts that was tendered on behalf of the Gomeroi applicant,” it added.

“The Court did not make any findings in relation to Santos’ conduct. Santos has at all times negotiated with the Gomeroi people in good faith,” it stated.

Santos the attempted to explain that the Court’s orders regarding next steps are yet to be made.

“Santos will continue to engage constructively with the Gomeroi people and work closely with them to ensure their heritage is protected,” the company said.

Santos also hopes that they benefit from the project development, including through training and employment, and involvement in all aspects of cultural heritage protection and management.

While gas is going to be required for decades to come in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and North Asia, corporate investment in more supply is the only way to ensure reliability and affordability of energy while making the system cleaner. 

Santos, the Asia-Pacific LNG operator with assets in Australia and Papua New Guinea and that recently held unsuccessful merger talks with Australian peer Woodside, has issued its annual reserves statement showing resources comprising 84 percent natural gas and 16 percent liquids.

Australia’s largest liquefied natural gas companies Woodside Energy and Santos have ended their merger discussions after failing to agree terms for creating a A$88 billion (US$58Bln) LNG mega-company in the Southern Hemisphere.