LNG

May 22 (LNGJ) - The 210,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Onaiza” is scheduled to unload a shipment on May 27 at the UK South Hook terminal at Milford Haven in Wales from the Ras Laffan plant in Qatar, according to port authorities. The delivery was headed for the UK as the National Balancing Point benchmark natural gas price was at the equivalent of $3.75 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 $4.15 per MMBtu.

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.

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have made a final investment decision to proceed with development of the Golden Pass LNG export project in Texas and have awarded construction contracts to a US-Japanese consortium for work to begin within weeks and for the facility to be operational in 2024.

“Golden Pass will provide an increased, reliable, long-term supply of liquefied natural gas to global gas markets, stimulate local growth and create thousands of jobs,” said ExxonMobil Chairman and Chief Executive Darren Woods.

An engineering consortium comprising McDermott and Zachry Group of the US and Japan’s Chiyoda Corp. have been awarded the contract to build the plant.

“The extensive experience of ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum provides the expertise, resources and financial strength needed to construct and operate an integrated liquefaction and export facility in the US,” added Woods.

The Golden Pass project is located on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas. It is 70 percent-owned by Qatar Petroleum while ExxonMobil holds the remaining 30 percent stake, having acquired 15 percent from former shareholder ConocoPhillips.

Originally designed as an import facility before the shale-gas revolution, Golden Pass will be reconfigured at a cost of more than $10 billion to export up to 15.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

“It is expected to create about 9,000 jobs over the five-year construction period and more than 200 permanent jobs during operations,” said ExxonMobil.

McDermott, Chiyoda and Zachry will perform engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of three Trains, each with capacity to produce 5.2 MTPA.

“McDermott has extensive experience in executing major projects along the US Gulf Coast,” said Richard Heo, McDermott's regional Senior Vice President.

“We will apply not only our vertically-integrated capabilities but also some of the best practices and lessons learned for major construction projects in the region,” he explained.

“We will also leverage the existing relationships we have with our partners and our customers to ensure that the Golden Pass project is a success,” stated the McDermott executive.

Golden Pass is part of ExxonMobil’s plans to invest more than $50 billion over the next five years to build and expand manufacturing facilities in the US.

“This project builds upon the successful international relationship between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum, with Qatar Petroleum joining ExxonMobil in exploration and development activities in Argentina, Brazil and Mozambique,” said the US major.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already approved the Golden Pass project, concluding that it “would result in some adverse environmental impact, though impacts would not be significant with implementation of proposed mitigation” by the developers and the regulators.

ExxonMobil has extensive assets in the US Gulf Coast area and is the biggest leaseholder in the Permian Basin, which it owns in parallel with pipelines and petrochemical infrastructure and plants that extend from South Texas into Louisiana.

The FERC has also approved permits for the associated Golden Pass Pipeline linking the plant to the major pipelines bringing in shale-gas resources.

ExxonMobil’s growing Gulf expansion programme consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and energy projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

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.

Nov 19 (LNGJ) - The 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Ghariya” will deliver a cargo on November 30 to the UK South Hook import terminal at Milford Haven in Wales from Ras Laffan 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 $9.05 per million British thermal units, while one of the main continental European prices, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), was lower at around $8.65 per MMBtu.

Oct 4 (LNGJ) - The 174,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Maran Gas Spetses” is scheduled to deliver a US cargo on October 8 to the UK Dragon LNG import terminal at Milford Haven in Wales, owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas of Malaysia. The carrier departed on September 13 from the US Sabine Pass export plant in Louisiana, owned by Cheniere Energy. The delivery was heading for the UK as the nation’s National Balancing Point benchmark natural gas price was at the equivalent of $9.10 per million British thermal units, while one of the main continental European prices, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), was slightly higher at the equivalent of $9.15 per MMBtu.

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.

Feb 16 (LNGJ) - The 266,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Max carrier “Aamira” will unload a cargo on February 22 at the UK Milford Haven import terminal 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 $6.95 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 $6.55 per MMBtu.