LNG

Australia’s left-wing government has rowed back from starting to ban hydrocarbons and putting the nation on a path to economic and energy suicide by on July 23 deciding to issue exploration and production licences for natural gas for the East, Southeast and West coast markets.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG plants in Western Australia, has signed a sale and purchase agreement with CPC Corp. of Taiwan for the long-term supply of cargoes.

July 9 (LNGJ) - UK major Shell has taken a positive final investment decision to proceed with the Manatee natural gas project offshore Trinidad and Tobago to supply more feed gas to the Atlantic LNG export plant at Point Fortin in Trinidad. The Manatee gas field will provide backfill to Atlantic LNG as part of Shell’s strategy to boost utilisation at existing liquefaction plants.

   “This project will help meet the increasing demand for natural gas globally while also addressing the energy needs of our customers domestically in Trinidad and Tobago,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director. “The investment bolsters our world-leading LNG portfolio in line with our commitment to invest in competitive projects that deliver more value with less emissions,” she added.

Fluor Corp. of US and Japan’s JGC Corp. of Japan have completed the final weld on first liquefaction Train at the LNG Canada joint venture at Kitimat on the Pacific Coast province of British Columbia.

Malaysian state energy company Petronas said the company was expanding its LNG fleet by three vessels to handle cargoes from the LNG Canada export project in British Colombia where Petronas is a shareholder.

Nigeria, the main oil, gas and LNG producer in sub-Saharan Africa, has been chosen to host the newly formed Africa Energy Bank (AEB) to boost investment in the Continent’s under-financed projects.

The Nigeria LNG plant at Bonny Island in the Niger Delta is set for more feed gas from development of the onshore Ubeta gas field first discovered 60 years ago in the West African nation with world-class oil and gas untapped reserves.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., the state energy company, and French major TotalEnergies said they had agreed to develop the field at an initial cost of $550 million.

TotalEnergies is the operator of the onshore licence for the Nigerian Ubeta's gas field with a 40 percent while NNPC will own 60 percent.

The field is located about 80 kilometres northwest of Port Harcourt in Rivers state, and the current licence covers two fields currently in production, the Obagi oil field and the Ibewa gas and condensate field.

The Ubeta gas volumes will be processed at the nearby Obite gas treatment centre and supplied to both the Nigerian domestic gas market and to the Nigeria LNG plant.

Schedule

The production start-up is expected in 2027, with a plateau of 300 million cubic feet per day, or about 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensates.

TotalEnergies, which has a 15 percent stake in the Bonny Island liquefaction and export project, said the Ubeta field would be part of and expansion of LNG output from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 MTPA.

NNPC Chief Executive Mallam Mele Kyari said he appreciated the support from stakeholders as well as from the administration of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.

“We appreciate presidential support for the fiscal terms of the agreement,” Kyari added.

The TotalEnergies Senior Vice President African Exploration and Production, Mike Sangster, said the Ubeta project is the latest in a series to tap associated gas from oil production.

“Ubeta fits perfectly with our strategy of developing low-cost and low emission projects, and will contribute to the Nigerian economy through higher LNG exports,’ Sangster added.

Train Seven

The Nigerian LNG plant has been in production since 1999 and the shareholders in addition to TotalEnergies are held by NNPC with 49 percent, Shell with 25.6 percent and Italy’s Eni with 10.4 percent.

The facility has capacity to producer 26 MTPA of LNG from six liquefaction Trains, though the development of a seventh LNG Train has suffered from delays.

June 14 (LNGJ) - TotalEnergies has agreed to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary in LNG producing nation Brunei to the Hibiscus Petroleum group, a Malaysian independent oil and gas player, for $259 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Sultanate of Brunei on the island of Borneo has been an LNG exporter since 1973 and the shareholders are the Brunei Government, Shell and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.

   Present in Brunei since 1986, TotalEnergies operated the Maharaja Lela-Jamalulalam field, located in the offshore Block B. The field’s average production of natural gas and condensate was more than 28,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2009, though only 9,000 boe in 2023, and was delivered to the Brunei LNG export plant.

UK major Shell is said to be finalizing the acquisition of liquefied natural gas assets of Pavilion Energy, the natural gas company set up by Singapore’s wealth fund Temasek, to give the Asian island state energy security.

QatarEnergy signed definitive agreements with CPC Corp. of Taiwan covering the long-term supply of cargoes and a partnership in the North Field East LNG expansion project in the Arabian Gulf.