LNG

Moody’s Investors Service, the US ratings agency, said in a report into liquefied natural gas that Chinese demand in 2024 will be similar to last year and while European gas markets remained resilient the region’s reliance on LNG could increase price volatility.

PetroChina, the Chinese-listed and overseas unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. and an LNG project stakeholder in Canada and Mozambique, reported an annual increase in net profits while revenues declined on lower commodity prices.

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.

Fortum, the Finnish energy and power company with European Union-wide operations and that was forced to give up the German natural gas and energy supplier Uniper which had relied on Russian pipeline supplies from Gazprom, has returned to profits and gave an overview of current EU energy markets and prices.

Moody’s Investors Service, the US credit rating agency, said that record high natural gas storage of almost 98 percent as of end November helped by LNG deliveries positions the European Union well to meet the needs of this winter season with very limited risks of energy shortages.

Oct 30 (LNGJ) - Germany launched a two-pronged diplomatic blitzkrieg of West and East Africa with the Chancellor and the President simultaneously visiting each side of the continent and seeking the permanent replacement of Russian natural gas with LNG imports from Africa and with the Germans expressing a willingness to invest in energy projects. Visiting Nigeria German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country was willing to invest in natural gas in Nigeria, the largest LNG, gas and oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa. Before meeting Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu the Chancellor had spoken of his nation requiring “considerable” amounts of natural gas.

   While Chancellor Scholz was in Nigeria and later travelling on to the West African nation of Ghana, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was visiting the East African country of Tanzania, an emerging LNG nation with a project being developed by energy majors. Chancellor Scholz also last year visited Senegal, where floating LNG projects are being development and spoke at the time of German investment in West Africa oil and gas.

Chinese liquefied natural gas imports declined slightly last month with most cargoes coming from Australia and Qatar while pipeline gas imports edged higher with energy demand improving for the needs of power and industry.

Deliveries of cargoes to China’s regasification terminals in September amounted to 5.69 million tonnes, or 84 cargoes, a drop of 2.8 percent on the 5.90MT, or 87 cargoes, received in September 2022, according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

Deliveries to China in August 2023 came to 6.32MT, an increase of almost 34 percent compared with 4.72MT in August 2022.

While supplies to China were weak for many months in 2022 because of Covid-19 lockdowns in the main cities, they began to rebound in September 2022 ahead of the winter heating season.

Network

China’s main LNG suppliers to its network of 25 import terminals are Australia, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the US and the Yamal plant in Arctic Russia.

The US no longer has China as a preferred destination for now with European countries taking more cargoes in 2023 since the ending of Nord Stream pipeline deliveries to Germany and the European Union amid Western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

Most recently the Netherlands became the latest European country to overtake China in the overall list of recipients of US LNG.

China has now dropped to seventh place from third place last year and has been overtaken by the UK, Spain and France for uS cargoes as well as the Netherlands.

However, more winter volumes should point at China in the months ahead as the Japan-Korea Marker price for spot cargoes hit $17.305 per million British thermal units and was seen rising further in a tight market.

The September Chinese energy data also showed that pipeline natural gas imports by China increased slightly to 4.25MT from 4.21MT in September 2022.

The “Power of Siberia” pipeline from Russia is the main supplier. It runs  for 3,000km (1,865 miles) through Siberia and into northeast China and a “Power of Siberia II” pipeline is being planned to deliver gas to China via Mongolia.

Additional pipelines inside China carry the gas for a further 2,110km through eight Chinese provinces in the north to Shanghai in eastern China.

Gas supply from the “Power of Siberia” pipeline reached just over 5 billion cubic metres in 2020, then 10.4 Bcm in 2021 and rose to 15 Bcm in 2022.

The volumes of Russian pipeline gas deliveries to China in 2023 are expected to reach around 22 Bcm or more.

Deutsche ReGas GmbH, the German owner of the floating LNG terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Lubmin and with another floating terminal set to start at the nearby port of Mukran, said it would hold an open season in November for short-term capacities.

Chinese liquefied natural gas imports increased in June by almost 24 percent as energy demand recovered because of lower prices and more regasification capacity coming on line, though LNG deliveries were less than in the previous month.

Asian liquefied natural gas spot prices dropped as cargo liftings increased while the European Union wholesale gas benchmark declined for a fourth week to just over $10 per million British thermal units exactly one year after hitting more than $50 per MMBtu.