LNG

INPEX Masala, the Indonesian subsidiary of Japan’s largest oil and gas producer, has received environmental approval for the Abadi LNG project, currently in the FEED stage. The project’s annual production will reach 9.5 million tons – equivalent of more than 10% of Japan’s annual LNG imports.

Plans to realise an onsite LNG regas terminal adjacent to an oil refinery on Java island are being reconsidered. Called Central Java Mini LNG terminal, the 0.84 mtpa regas project comes at an estimated cost of $152 million and would supply gas to a local refinery as well as to electric utilities in southern central Java.

Conrad Asia Energy, an Australian-listed natural gas exploration and production company, has entered into a binding gas sales agreement for the domestic portion of the Mako gas field in Indonesia and with an option to sell the balance of the pipeline gas to LNG importer Singapore.

Conrad has signed the agreement to sell domestic gas to Perusahaan Gas Negara (PNG), the gas utility subsidiary of Pertamina, the national oil and gas company of Indonesia.

The ASX-listed company said the deal with PGN for gas from the Mako gas field, in which Conrad has a 76.5 percent participating interest, is an important step in the commercialisation of the largest undeveloped gas field in the West Natuna Sea.

PGN is Indonesia’s largest gas company and a separate GSA is being negotiated with Singaporean parties for the remainder of the Mako gas resource to be exported by pipeline to the Asian city state.

Singapore pipeline

The West Natuna Sea gas gathering system is already connected to Singapore.

However, PGN is proceeding with constructing a tie-in pipeline to the island of Batam across the Malacca Strait that will connect the Natuna Sea volumes to the Indonesian market.

It was noted by Conrad that completion of both GSAs would be significant landmarks on the path to a final investment decision for the Mako project targeted for the fourth quarter of 2024.

Conrad said it was moving towards finalising a GSA for the Mako export gas for Singapore over the coming few weeks.

The gas will supply Singapore through an existing pipeline in competition to the LNG cargoes delivered to the Jurong Island LNG terminal.

UK company Empyrean Plc is also a shareholder in the project. The Mako field contains contingent resources of 376 billion cubic feet of which 21 Bcf are net attributable to Empyrean.

Long-term supplier

The West Natuna Sea gas fields have been supplying Singapore with natural gas for more than two decades and the Mako project is expected to continue this supply for at least another 10 years from 2026.

In addition to the significance for the Mako development, Conrad said that the accord builds an important platform for Conrad with Indonesia’s national companies.

Conrad said it would continue to grow its business relationship with PGN through its other discovered gas resources offshore Aceh and related to which the two parties signed an accord in February 2024.

“Our focus has been finalising the underwriting gas sales agreements between the Mako Joint Venture, the Indonesian Government and Regulator and Singapore,” said Conrad Chief Executive Miltos Xynogalas.

“These agreements are the essential documents that demonstrate financial viability of the project, which in turn underwrite value and financial sustainability,” the CEO added.

Empyrean Energy, the UK-listed oil and gas company with interests in Indonesia, China and the United States, reported that an accord containing key terms has been signed for the Indonesian Mako gas field to supply Singapore by pipeline and domestic gas to the Indonesians.

Inpex Corp., the Japanese liquefied natural gas producer and project developer, has joined with LNG importers Tokyo Gas and Osaka Gas to conduct a joint study on e-methane production with the largest clean energy company in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Chiyoda Corp., the leading Japanese energy and LNG engineering company, has been awarded a technical service agreement (TSA) by the Indonesian Donggi-Senoro LNG project, the all-Asian venture whose largest shareholder is Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.

“The agreement covers engineering, technology, and process safety support for the LNG plant and is scheduled to be carried out for three years,” said Chiyoda.

The LNG plant produces around 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG and has long-term contracts with Japanese and South Korean buyers.

Chiyoda said its Operations & Maintenance (O&M) division established at the start of 2023 would take the lead in providing the services.

The contract will also make use of Chiyoda’s consulting and engineering capabilities as a part of the plant-OSTM Services.

Service-focused

Chiyoda noted that this service was set up in September 2023 to offer field-centred physical maintenance support for industrial plants with “inherent digital technologies affording to the customer deep insight” into the plant status.

Production at Donggi-Senoro LNG commenced in August 2015 and the plant has been operating at a high rate since its start-up.

The facilities liquefy and export feed gas from the Senoro-Toili block and the Matindok block onshore gas fields in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province.

Mitsubishi owns around 45 percent of the Donggi-Senoro joint venture and the other partners are Korea Gas Corp., the Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and Indonesia’s largest publicly-listed energy company Medco.

When Donggi-Senoro started it was the first LNG project exclusively owned and operated by Asian companies without the participation of international oil majors.

However, Mitsubishi is now one of Japan’s leading LNG stakeholders with assets and supplies from North America, including LNG Canada, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia and Russia.

The Donggi-Senoro customers are Japanese utility giant JERA Co. Inc., which takes delivery of 1 MTPA, Kogas with 700,000 tonnes per annum and Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power contracted for 300,000 tonnes per annum.

UK major Shell reported much reduced third-quarter profits of $6.2 billion, lower than the $9.45Bln of profits returned in the same three months of 2022 as natural gas prices dropped, while quarterly sales of liquefied natural gas were still over 16 million tonnes.

Sept 13 (LNGJ) - Malaysian energy services company Bumi Armada has signed a deal with a subsidiary of Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina and Indonesian natural gas trading company PT Davenergy Mulia Perkasa for the development and commercialization of liquefied natural gas.

   The agreement concerns resources in the Madura gas block offshore Indonesia. Bumi Armada said it would collaborate with Pertamina International Shipping to construct and operate a floating natural gas liquefaction and storage facility and on securing an LNG carrier to transport the volumes. “We are excited to collaborate with Pertamina International Shipping and DMP on this opportunity,” said a Bumi Armada statement.

Inpex Corp, the Japanese oil and gas company and operator of the Ichthys LNG plant in Australia’s Northern Territory, is finalizing its revised development plan for the Abadi LNG export project in Indonesia to include carbon-capture facilities.

Indonesian oil and gas company Pertamina said its gas and LNG subsidiaries would be cooperating with French major TotalEnergies on using the Arun LNG Hub, a former liquefaction plant on North Sumatra island.