LNG

LNG importer India said plans were advancing for more exploration and production of domestic energy resources as the nation was preparing to launch a 10th bidding round for oil and gas blocks in August or September.

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, seeking an outlet for supplies previously delivered to Europe before the Ukraine invasion, has signed an accord with Iran to supply the  Gulf nation with pipeline gas from Russia.

June 19 (LNGJ) – A steady number of laden LNG carriers are heading for Europe from Qatar. They include the 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Ruwais”, which lifted a cargo on May 19 from the Ras Laffan plant in Qatar and would be arriving off Gibraltar on June 20 to await orders, according to shipping data.

   Another shipment departed from Ras Laffan on May 23 on the “Celsius Gandhinagar”, a vessel with 180,000 cubic metres capacity, and was scheduled to berth at the Belgian terminal in Zeebrugge on June 23.

Japanese liquefied natural gas imports increased again in May even at higher prices while thermal coal deliveries dropped and nuclear plant re-starts plans continued to advance.

June 11 (LNGJ) - Enagás, the Spanish natural gas grid and LNG terminals operator, recorded a drop of 18.6 percent in May natural gas imports compared with May 2023 with Russian and Nigerian LNG imports declining. Data from Enagás showed that Spain imported the equivalent of 28,264 gigawatt hours in May, the equivalent of 2.89 billion cubic metres of natural gas. This included regasified LNG as well as pipeline gas from Algeria and France, compared with 34,709 GWh, or 3.55 Bcm of gas, in the same month last year.

   Russia was the largest LNG supplier to Spain with 6,416 GWh, or 511,450 tonnes of LNG, down from 9,663 GWh in May 2023. The US was the second-largest LNG supplier with 3,893 GWh followed by Nigeria with 2,932 GWh, down from 6,813 GWh in 2023. Qatar supplied 1,742 GWh of the LNG total and Algeria delivered 1,477 GWh of LNG and 8,791 GWh of pipeline gas.

June 4 (LNGJ) - The Qatari Q-Flex LNG vessel “Al Gharrafa” with 216,200 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to berth on June 5 at the French Fos Cavaou LNG import terminal located west of the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

The shipment was loaded on May 3 at the Ras Laffan export plant in the Arabian Gulf and the carrier voyage was around the southern tip of Africa because of continued insecurity for shipping in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The delivery came as the French day-ahead Point d’Echange de Gaz (PEG) price in the virtual trading market was at the equivalent of $11.450 per million British thermal units.

Murban crude oil in Abu Dhabi that usually trades at around $3 a barrel below dated Brent crude was trading at $90 a barrel on April 14 after Iran launched its first ever direct state-on-state attack on Israel using drones and cruise missiles, indicating that oil and gas prices in Europe will rise on Monday April 15, though the increase in Brent price could be limited to under $95 a barrel because of previous factoring in of the ongoing crisis.

QatarEnergy, the leading LNG exporter and developer of major new liquefaction projects, has celebrated the graduation of a new group of Qatari nationals who have successfully completed their academic studies and training programmes to join the workforces of QatarEnergy and other companies established in the expanding sector.

Chinese liquefied natural gas imports for the two-month January-February 2024 period soared by more than 23 percent from a year earlier as prices declined and demand grew during a time that encompassed the Lunar New Year holidays in China.

Japanese liquefied natural gas imports dropped by 10.5 percent amid milder winter weather and prices at almost 30 percent lower levels while thermal coal imports were steady and plans were revealed for another nuclear restart.