LNG

Perenco, the European oil and gas company that has recently been increasing its upstream assets, is in talks with BP to acquire gas field interests in the Caribbean LNG exporting nation Trinidad and Tobago.

Feb 27 (LNGJ) - The first March LNG cargoes are heading for the UK from Trinidad and the US. The vessel “Magdala” with 173,400 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to discharge a cargo on March 1 at the Dragon import terminal in Milford Haven, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on February 19 from the Point Fortin plant in Trinidad.

   The “Maran Gas Vergina” with 173,605 cubic metres capacity is due to berth with a US cargo on March 4 at the South Hook terminal at Milford Haven. The cargo was lifted from the Cameron plant near Lake Charles in Louisiana on February 21.

Shell plc, the largest oil and gas company in Europe, posted adjusted third-quarter earnings of $9.45Bln, more than double the $4.13Bln income from the same quarter of 2021, though 18 percent down on the previous quarter, reflecting lower LNG trading and optimisation results as well as lower chemical and refining margins.

European offshore engineering and projects company Subsea 7 SA has been awarded a sizeable project by BP for the TOPR project located offshore Trinidad and Tobago in water depths of up to 280 feet and aimed at boosting natural gas supplies and LNG production.

BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) runs the Trinidad compression (TROC) project as part of plans to deliver more feed gas.

Subsea 7, the Oslo-listed company headquartered in Luxembourg, said the latest part of the project covers the installation of a 96 kilometres of 12-inch pipeline, associated shore approach and diver tie-in spools.

Front-end engineering and design (FEED) is underway and the EPC and installation scope is scheduled to begin this month.

Subsea 7 said that project management and engineering would take place in Subsea 7’s office in Houston in Texas.

“We are honoured to have been selected for the fast-track delivery of the TOPR project and we look forward to continuing our collaborative relationship with BP,” said Craig Broussard, Vice President for Subsea 7 in the US.

Subsea 7 noted that its defines a sizeable contract as being between $50 million and $150M

Low-pressure wells

The latest facilities are expected to improve production capacity by increasing output from low-pressure wells in BPTT’s existing acreage.

The TROC project is viewed by BP as a clear example of BPTT, the government and many key players in the oil and gas industry cooperating to improve production capacity, which will benefit both the petrochemical plants and Atlantic LNG.

Production at the Atlantic LNG plant dropped by more than 38 percent in 2021 to 6.20 million tonnes compared with just over 10MT in the previous year.

Atlantic LNG Train 1 has been idle since November 2020 because of a feed-gas shortage and was closed indefinitely in mid-2021.

In January 2022 a heads of agreement was signed between BP, Shell and the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago and the Government to consolidate Atlantic LNG Trains under the framework of a single ownership structure.

Shell, the major Atlantic LNG shareholder, had started production in July 2021 on Block 5C, known as the Barracuda project, a backfill gas production venture to supply feed gas to the Atlantic plant.

The decline in gas production has been the major reason for the shortages being experienced by the country and BPTT’s own Matapal natural gas project was also completed in 2021 and will be able to shore-up potential supplies.

McDermott International, the US energy and LNG engineering company, was awarded a large contract by Anglo-Australian commodities and energy firm BHP for subsea work on the Ruby Project, offshore the LNG producing nation Trinidad and Tobago.

Royal Dutch Shell posted a 15 percent fall in overall third-quarter earnings even as liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas earnings rose by 23 percent to almost $2.6 billion and LNG sales volumes for the year so far were more than 54 million tonnes amid gas field ramp-ups in Australia and Trinidad.

Trinidad & Tobago, the Caribbean liquefied natural gas exporter from its plant at Point Fortin in Trinidad, has signed a new energy agreement with Royal Dutch Shell featuring an enhanced revenue package for the sale of LNG.

The agreement followed talks at Shell’s Dutch headquarters in The Hague involving Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley and Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden, as well as other officials and executives.

“The energy deal is the result of months of positive and relationship-building discussions between Shell and the Government,” said a statement from the PM’s office.

“The agreement reflects the mutual importance of the relationship and the value Shell has placed on Trinidad and Tobago,” it added, though no financial details were released.

The Anglo-Dutch company and Trinidad has also committed to continue their discussions surrounding the development of the energy sector.

The Caribbean nation’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Franklin Khan signed on behalf of the government while Derek Hudson, Vice President and Country Chairman of Shell Trinidad and Tobago signed on behalf of Shell.

Prime Minister Rowley also held talks with Shell executive Maarten Wetselaar who is the Integrated Gas and New Energies Director at Shell and is responsible for LNG.

Trinidad is one of the longest-standing LNG exporting nations and started its first Train in 1999. It quickly became the main supplier of LNG to the United States before the shale-gas boom enabled the US itself to join the exporter ranks.

Trinidad’s liquefaction plant, which has found new customers in South America, Europe and Asia, boosted its production last year by 14.2 percent to 11.63MT from its four Trains. The plant's main shareholders are Shell and BP of the UK.

In the past two years, the LNG plant has boosted its feed-gas resources with projects such as the Angelin development, the Juniper venture and the Trinidad Onshore Compression project.

Two other developments are planned. These are the Cassia Compression venture and the Matapal gas project for a discovery made in 2017. They are expected to come on stream in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

UK major BP has announced the first natural gas flows from its Angelin development in Trinidad and Tobago to help underpin the future of the Caribbean nation’s liquefied natural gas exports and has a 10-year investment plan amounting to around $8 billion.