LNG

March 2 (LNGJ) - The UK is scheduled to receive three more LNG cargoes in the next week at the port of Milford Haven. The 155,900 cubic metres capacity vessel “Wilforce” is due to discharge a US cargo at the South Hook terminal on March 3 from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana.

   The carrier “Kool Boreas” with 170,200 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to deliver an Egyptian shipment on March 7 to the Dragon terminal at the Welsh port, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on February 26 from the Idku plant located east of the Egyptian port Alexandria. A third Milford Haven cargo will arrive at South Hook on March 9 from Sabine Pass on board the 170,800 cubic metres capacity carrier “Global Sea Spirit”.

March 30 (LNGJ) - The southwest African nation of Angola has now stepped up as an LNG cargo supplier to the UK. The 154,950 cubic metres capacity carrier “Malanje” is scheduled to deliver the shipment on April 4 to the South Hook terminal at Milford Haven. The cargo was lifted on March 24 from the Soyo liquefaction plant located in northern Angola near the Congo River delta.

Qatargas, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas production company, has delivered the first cargo of LNG on a Q-Max vessel to the Belgian import and regasification terminal at Zeebrugge even though the facility has been operational for 32 years.

The UK Isle of Grain LNG import terminal on the Medway River southeast of London said it was planning to offer the market 8 million tonnes per annum of capacity through 100 berthing slots as well as additional storage.

March 21 (LNGJ) - The 210,185 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Bahiya” will unload a shipment on April 3 at the UK South Hook terminal at Milford Haven in Wales from the Ras Laffan plant in Qatar, according to shipping data. The delivery was heading for the UK as the National Balancing Point benchmark natural gas price was at the equivalent of $4.95 per million British thermal units, while one of the main continental European prices, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), was higher at the equivalent of around $5.10 per MMBtu.

ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods said he expected to make progress on the Golden Pass export project in Texas with partner Qatar Petroleum and would make a formal announcement in the near future about that venture and others on the Gulf Coast.

Jan 18 (LNGJ) - The 165,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Arwa Spirit” will deliver a US cargo on January 21 to the UK South Hook import terminal at Milford Haven in Wales from the Cove Point plant in Maryland, according to the port authority. The shipment was heading for the UK as the National Balancing Point benchmark natural gas price was at the equivalent of $8.00 per million British thermal units, while one of the main continental European prices, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), was lower at around $7.65 per MMBtu.

National Grid of the UK said its Isle of Grain import terminal on the Medway River southeast of London sent out more regasified LNG last month than any other facility in Northwest Europe.

The Grain LNG terminal operator said that market conditions and a robust UK benchmark National Balancing Point natural gas price led to a record performance for December 2018.

“This is a stark contrast to December 2017, when the terminal only delivered gas above minimum send out on two occasions,” said Grain LNG.

“This winter, the UK has proved to be a strong market for LNG sellers looking to home excess LNG resulting from various supply projects coming on line,” said the company.

Grain LNG is currently the only UK terminal capable of accepting the full range of global LNG due to its extensive nitrogen processing plant.

“The UK has a more stringent Wobbe limit than most of Europe but plans are underway to relax this, which should lead to a significant reduction in costs as well as ensuring LNG is able to enter any of the UK terminals,” said the UK operator.

Other UK terminals have also seen increased activity, with both terminals in Milford Haven in Wales, the South Hook facility and the Dragon terminal, accepting many cargoes.

“We are delighted to see such high utilisation at our terminal and proud of our consistent performance and ability to deliver our customer nominations after a long period of low activity,” said Simon Culkin, the Grain LNG terminal manager.

The UK terminal noted that during 2018 a total of 26 million tonnes of additional LNG production hit the market and shipping charter rates reached a record high.

“These two factors resulted in traders delivering more LNG than expected to Europe as the differential available between European and Asian prices did not justify the additional shipping costs,” explained Grain LNG.

“The gas price in the UK remained steadfast and as utilisation at the Grain terminal rose it is expected that variable costs on a per unit basis would have decreased significantly as the terminal typically operates more efficiently at higher send-out as per the design basis,” it added.

French energy major Total said it made a large natural gas discovery on its Glendronach prospect offshore the UK, West of Shetland, amid recent reductions in LNG imports to the country’s three main terminals.

March 23 (LNG) - The 261,700 cubic metres capacity Q-Max carrier “Al Samriya” will deliver a cargo on March 30 to the UK South Hook import terminal in Milford Haven from the Ras Laffan plant in Qatar, according to the port authorities. The delivery was heading for the UK as the National Balancing Point benchmark natural gas price was at the equivalent of $7.70 per million British thermal units, while one of the main continental European prices, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), was lower at the equivalent of around $6.90 per MMBtu.