LNG

French major TotalEnergies has launched its first LNG bunkering operation for containerships at the West Mediterranean Port of Marseille Fos with an LNG-powered 15,000 twenty-foot units (TEU) containership re-fuelled.

The “CMA CGM Bali” operates on the Asia-to-South Europe route for Marseille-based shipping line CMA CGM.

“The containership was refuelled by the bunkering vessel ‘Gas Vitality’, which has 6,000 cubic metres of capacity operated a ship-to-ship transfer alongside the Eurofos container terminal, while the containership carried out cargo operations simultaneously,” explained TotalEnergies.

The “Gas Vitality” is the second LNG bunker vessel chartered by TotalEnergies from the owner, Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines.

“This entire operation underlines a solid collaborative teamwork across the French maritime industry including the involvement of local port authorities to enable the vessels’ safe operatorship, and the commitments of all the parties to support the growing role of LNG,” said Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet, Vice-President at ToatlEnergies Marine Fuels.

“TotalEnergies is delighted to successfully complete Marseille’s first LNG bunkering operation of a containership,” added Leprince-Ringuet.

“Her deployment underscores the company’s commitment to support the French port’s ambition to be an LNG bunkering hub for the
Mediterranean region,” stated the executive.

TotalEnergies has actively invested in LNG infrastructure, critical to support its shipping customers’ uptake of LNG as a marine fuel.

The company has been operating an even larger bunkering vessel, the 18,600 cubic metres capacity “Gas Agility” since November 2020 at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam.

It was at Rotterdam that the “Gas Agility” completed the first LNG bunkering operation of the “CMA CGM Jacques Saade”, the largest dual-fuel LNG-powered containership in the world.

“TotalEnergies will also commence operations of a third LNG bunker vessel to serve Singapore,” it noted.

“The company was awarded an LNG bunker supplier licence for a five-year term starting on January 1st, 2022,” it added.

In the global LNG market TotalEnergies is the world's second-largest publicly traded player and will have a global portfolio of nearly 50 million tonnes per annum from after 2025.

The Paris-based company has stakes in 10 LNG liquefaction and export plants worldwide in Angola, Australia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the US, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Russia and Qatar.

May 4 (LNGJ) - French energy major Total is seeking to expand its power retailing business in Australia from June 2020 as part of a plan to sell electricity to 9 million sites by 2023. Total already sells power to the Gladstone LNG export plant on Curtis Island where it is a sharehodler and is now seeking a larger slice of the East Coast market.

   Total Gas & Power Australia said its proposed target market was the very large users such as industrial and government customers. The application was filed in March and released by the energy industry regulator on May 4 for public comment. 

The Freeport LNG export plant on Quintana Island in Texas was given permission by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to brings a second loading jetty into service to meet increasing cargo numbers.

Japanese shipowner NYK Line said it signed a new long-term charter contract to supply a liquefied natural gas carrier to French energy major Total.

Tellurian Inc. developer of the Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana backed by companies such as French energy major Total, has launched an open season for its Permian Global Access Pipeline to secure prospective customers.

The Permian Global Access project is a proposed 42-inch diameter inter-state natural gas pipeline originating at the Waha Hub in Pecos County in Texas and terminating at Gillis in Louisiana, north of Lake Charles where the liquefaction plant will be constructed.

The final environmental impact statement was issued by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January 2019 to develop the Driftwood liquefaction plant to produce around 27.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

The pipeline will connect the prolific Permian Basin in Texas to the rapidly growing natural gas market in southwest Louisiana.

“It will cost approximately $3.7 billion to construct and will have the capacity to transport at least two billion cubic feet of natural gas a day,” said Tellurian.

“Construction could begin as early as 2021 and the pipeline is targeted to be in service as early as 2023,” added the company.

Tellurian is also developing a second pipeline venture called the Haynesville Global Access Pipeline at around the same cost.

In addition to spending $7.4Bln on the two pipelines, Tellurian is developing the liquefaction plant near Lake Charles with total investments of around $15.2Bln and the provision of about 15,000 jobs.

“Permian producers have recently paid $9.00 per million British thermal units to move their natural gas away from the wellhead, reflecting the acute need for infrastructure development in the Basin,” said Tellurian Chief Executive and President Meg Gentle.

“By contrast, Southwest Louisiana is a market expected to grow 300 percent in the next five years,” added Gentle.

“The Permian Global Access Pipeline is critical infrastructure that will interconnect stranded Permian gas production with growing markets, reduce flaring and provide a valuable cleaner fuel to reduce urban pollution and carbon globally,” stated the CEO.

The open season was scheduled to begin at noon Central time on April 8 and runs to Friday, May 24.

Tellurian said it would encourage interested parties to contact Joey Mahmoud, President of the Permian Global Access Pipeline project, at the pipeline company website.

The pipeline open season follows recent advances in the LNG project with Total signing two accords to invest more in the development company and to take its supply requirements from the venture to 2.5 MTPA of LNG.

The sales agreement will be for the purchase of free-on-board (FOB) whereby Total supplies the shipping and for a minimum term of 15 years and based on the Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM) price.

Total’s equity agreement gives the French company an additional 20 million shares of Tellurian common stock for an amount of $200 million, adding to its previous investment.

Woodside Petroleum, the operator of two LNG export plants in Western Australia and with expansion plans, has signed a preliminary accord with the privately-run Chinese ENN Group to provide supplies over a 10-year period.

Sempra Energy, the California-based utility and developer of the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana, said it signed accords with Japanese and French LNG buyers for volume sales from its Costa Azul facility on the Pacific Coast of Mexico that is being transformed from an import terminal to liquefaction and an export plant.

French energy major Total and Sempra Energy of the US have signed an accord for cooperation in the development of North American liquefied natural gas export projects, including phase two of the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana and the Costa Azul project in Mexico.

The heads of the major energy companies of France, Italy and Algeria have signed two agreements for an exclusive partnership for an exploration campaign offshore the LNG-producing North African nation.

The Australian Ichthys LNG export plant, the joint venture involving Inpex Corp. of Japan and French major total, has finally begun full commercial operations by shipping its first LNG cargo from the liquefaction and export plant at Bladin Point, near Darwin.