LNG

French major TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to acquire all of Malaysian independent gas producer and operator Sapura-OMV Upstream, a Malaysian-Austrian joint venture and some of whose feed-gas assets are delivered to the Bintulu LNG plant.

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.

Suriname, once known as Dutch Guiana and a former colony of the Netherlands until 1975, has announced plans to be a liquefied natural gas producing nation using an FLNG production hull.

Feb 29 (LNGJ) - A Japanese consortium of LNG and energy players has signed a storage site agreement with Malaysia’s Petronas and Petroleum Sarawak (Petros) for the depleted M3 gas field that previously supplied the Bintulu LNG export plant and will now be used as part of a carbon-capture and storage project.

   Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., engineering firm JGC Holdings Corp and shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-LINE) signed the accord. “This collaboration represents a significant advancement in the efforts to reduce greenhous-gas emissions in the Asia Pacific region, including Malaysia and Japan,” said the companies.

French liquefied natural gas storage technology firm and smart-shipping services supplier, Gaztranzport and Technigaz (GTT), has signed two technical services agreements for ships owned by Jovo Group of China.

Inpex Corp., the operator of the Ichthys LNG plant in Australia and developer of the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia, said it received written approval on December 6 for the revised Plan of Development (POD) for the Indonesian Abadi joint venture and would be moving on to the front-end engineering and design phase.

Canadian Spirit Resources Inc., which recently reactivated natural gas production at Farrell Creek in Northeast British Columbia, is aiming for a share in supplying feed gas to regional LNG export projects as it outlined the advantages and challenges of operating in the Montney Shale basin.

TC Energy Corp., whose activities include the building and ownership of pipelines in the US, Mexico and Canada and the LNG project called Coastal GasLink in British Columbia, has held an investor day with forecasts of a surge in feed gas for US Gulf Coast LNG and more progress on the spin-off of its liquids business.

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.

François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive, told investors that the Coastal GasLink was completed while its US Southeast Gateway venture was on track for costs and schedule.

TC Energy’s presentation showed that the Calgary-based company was providing 30 percent of US LNG feed gas which is set to surge to 40 billion cubic feet per day of supply for liquefaction in the years ahead.

LNG wave

“We are well positioned to capture the next wave of LNG exports,” said the CEO.

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 company confirmed that the Columbia Gas and Columbia Gulf transactions were completed to the buyer, the New York-headquartered asset management firm Global Infrastructure Partners.

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.

Southeast Gateway

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

“TC Energy has made significant progress against its 2023 priorities, including project execution, deleveraging and maximizing the value of its asset base, which continues to generate excellent operational and financial results through all points in the economic cycle,” investors were told.

They were also told that the Liquids Pipelines business spin-off would be called South Bow Corp.

“South Bow symbolizes the historical roots of the company in Alberta, Canada, while acknowledging the pipeline system's strategic path southwards to the strongest US refining markets in the Gulf Coast and Midwest,” stated TC Energy.

“After a strong October and reflecting strength in the US dollar, the 2023 comparable EBITDA is now expected to be approximately 8 percent higher than 2022,” the company explained.

2024 priorities

“The company reaffirms its priority areas for 2024 and provides its expected comparable EBITDA growth outlook of 5 percent to 7 percent from 2023 to 2024, excluding any potential impact of its announced asset divestiture program, and prior to giving effect to the spin-off, which is expected to take place in the second half of 2024,” said TC Energy.

CEO Poirier added that over the past few years, TC Energy has been strategically pivoting capital to optimize its portfolio, leveraging core competencies and capturing the long-term growth potential in the natural gas and power businesses.

“Focusing on the value that can be delivered with two distinct strategies, the spin-off will unlock the evident value we see from each company’s unique opportunity set,” the CEO added.

“Subject to the requisite shareholder and regulatory approvals, upon closing of the spin-off transaction, South Bow is poised to be a low-risk liquids transportation and storage business, and with its anticipated investment-grade credit ratings, it can respond quickly in a market where it holds significant competitive advantages,” Poirier declared. 

The Premier of the Canadian oil and gas province of Alberta said the provincial government aimed to invoke the sovereignty act to reject Federal clean energy regulations aimed at Alberta’s gas-fired power plants.

Japanese liquefied natural gas imports increased for a second month with more shipments being supplied by Asian nations and the US at much lower prices while deliveries declined of thermal coal for power generation.

Deliveries of LNG to the nation’s regasification terminal network rose by 6.4 percent in October 2023 to 5.42 million tonnes, or 80 cargoes, from the 5.08MT, or 75 shipments, received in October 2022, according to preliminary trade data from the Japanese Finance Ministry.

Imports in the previous month of September had risen by 3.8 percent to 5.52MT from the 5.32MT received in September 2022.

The Ministry figures also showed that LNG cargoes cost 37.6 percent less in October2023 at 495.56 billion yen ($3.31Bln) compared with 794.76Bln yen ($5.30Bln) in October 2022.

Deliveries of thermal coal to Japanese ports dropped by 5.1 percent year-over-year to 8.61MT.

Asia steady

The Ministry data showed the imports of LNG last month from Asian nations like Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei increased by 26.6 percent from October 2022 to 1.19MT. 

Middle East shipments from countries such as Qatar increased by 12.2 percent year-over-year to 421,000 tonnes.

Deliveries from US liquefaction and export plant increased by 175 percent to 568,000 tonnes, though the total was less than the previousmonth’s 707,000 tonnes.

Russian LNG deliveries to Japan fell by 4.6 percent to 506,000 tonnes.

The balance of deliveries to Japan from Australia and the spot market in October 2023 amounted to 2.73MT, which was less than the previous month’s 2.89MT and the 2.92MT logged for this segment in October 2022.

Japan had regained the global No. 1 spot as an LNG importer from China in 2022 with its 72MT of volumes, though the pace of Chinese deliveries has increased in 2023.

Nuclear competition

Japan is also using more nuclear power and intends to bring other reactors on line over the next year or so as public opposition lessens with energy security taking priority.

Almost a dozen reactors are now back in operation compared with the 54 that were online in 2011 before the Fukushima disaster and which had supplied around 30 percent of Japan’s energy needs.

The latest nuclear restart was the Takahama-1 plant owned by LNG importing utility Kansai Electric Power Company and brings to 11 the number of plants in operation from the 33 that are capable of re-starting. 

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority is examining the re-start proposals for 10 more N-plants. 

Among them is Chugoku Electric Power’s plans to restart the No. 2 reactor at its Shimane nuclear power station in August 2024.

The 11 restarted reactors so far are: Genkai-3 and Genkai-4, Ikata-3, Mihama-3, Ohi-3 and Ohi-4, Sendai-1 and Sendai-2 and Takahama-1, Takahama-3 and Takahama-4.