LNG

Sept 15 (LNGJ) - Turkey said it would construct a physical hub in the country’s western region of Thrace to connect all existing gas pipelines. “Turkey can also receive LNG from different countries like the US, Algeria and Qatar,” said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar in describing the plan

   “We also take pipeline gas from Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia,” said the minister. “What we are trying to do in Thrace is build a physical hub that will connect to all respective pipelines and to our underground gas storage at Silivri as well as to LNG import terminals,” Bayraktar added.

The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing that Germany has for the first time entered the monthly list for being a top five recipient of US shipments, though most of the cargoes delivered to Germany were relatively expensive ones.

Algeria has said that it was preparing to sign a new pipeline natural gas supply agreement with Italy for around 9 billion cubic metres per annum.

Turkey has defended its natural gas storage policies as it increases shipments of LNG from the US while also receiving gas supplies from Russian pipelines and from neighbouring Iran.

Sonatrach, the Algerian state energy company, was continuing a 10-day shutdown of the Skikda liquefied natural gas plant on the Mediterranean coast because of a technical issue, as the nation also continued to implement a curfew in 14 provinces to try and bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control.

Sonatrach said the closure of the Skikda facility came after the sudden failure of a gas turbine control mechanism.

Sonatrach is one of the main suppliers of LNG and pipeline natural gas to Europe.

It operates two LNG plants at Skikda and Arzew on the Mediterranean coast and via three pipelines to Spain and Italy.

Algerian gas supplies are carried from the Hassi R'Mel hub on the Medgaz pipeline via Beni Saf to Almeria in southern Spain and on the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline from the Hassi R'mel field through Morocco to Cordoba in Spain.

Pipeline gas also goes to Italy through the Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline from Algeria via Tunisia to Sicily and then onwards to the mainland of Italy.

Algerian LNG exports have been falling in recent years and amounted to a combined 10.58 million tonnes per annum in 2020 from both the Skikda plant and the main Arzew facility, a decline of 13.5 percent.

Shipments from the North African country go to France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Spain, the UK, India, Pakistan and several others.

The company said it was still carrying out repairs at Skikda on the affected equipment.

The LNG plant at Skikda has a capacity to produce 4 million tonnes per annum.

“A technical issue occurred on June 11 at the Skikda LNG complex and led to the shutdown of this complex,” said Sonatrach.

“As a safety precaution, Sonatrach has decided to conduct a thorough inspection of the plant,” it added.

So far in 2020, Algeria has exported less than 7MT of shipments, which is around 50 percent of its technical nameplate capacity.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas producing nation is taking more lockdown measures to control Covid-19 in 14 of its 58 provinces.

The partial lockdown measures in the affected areas are from midnight to 04:00 on the morning of the next day and were extended in 14 Algerian provinces for a period of 21 days from June 21 as part of the fight against the spread of Covid-19.

The measures were approved by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad following consultations with the state Scientific Committee.

The Covid-19 measures concern the following 14 provinces: Algiers, Laghouat, Batna, Bejaia, Blida, Tebessa, Tizi-Ouzou, Setif, Sidi Bel Abbes, Constantine, M'Sila, Ouargla, Oran and Boumerdes.

Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan has claimed a Black Sea natural gas discovery by state-owned Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) of an additional 135 billion cubic metres of gas at the offshore Amasra-1 field, opening the way for production to offset some of the nation’s LNG and pipeline natural gas import needs.

March 25 (LNGJ) - Turkey is set to receive more LNG shipments from the US in 2020 and is unloading two cargoes this week from traditional suppliers, Nigeria and Qatar. The 148,300 cubic metres capacity carrier “LNG Imo” will unload a Nigerian cargo on March 27 at the Aliaga facility. Then on March 30 the 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex vessel “Umm Al Amada” is set to deliver a shipment to the Marmara Ereglisi terminal for Turkish energy company Botas from Ras Laffan in Qatar.

   Turkey’s LNG cargo prices are based on the Atlantic Basin natural gas benchmarks in the UK and the Netherlands. The UK National Balancing Point was last at $2.55 per million British thermal units while Continental Europe’s Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) price was lower at $2.50 per MMBtu.

Italian energy company Eni said it signed a new long-term contract for the purchase of 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the Nigeria LNG plant at Bonny Island on the Niger Delta.

Jan 2 (LNGJ) – LNG cargoes were pointing at European terminals in the week ahead even amid lower prices, with the UK National Balancing Point (NBP) at the equivalent of $4.15 per million British thermal units and the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) price at the equivalent of $3.95 per MMBtu. The “Ribera del Duero Knutsen” was unloading a cargo at the UK Isle of Grain terminal near London from the US Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. The 210,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex vessel “Al Nuaman” was scheduled to unload a Qatargas shipment on January 2 at the Turkish Marmara Ereglisito terminal for Botas.

   The 137,230 cubic metres capacity carrier “LNG Sokoto” will deliver a shipment on January 3 to the Portuguese terminal at Sines from the Bonny Island plant in Nigeria. The 138,000 cubic metres capacity “Fuwairit” will unload a Qatargas cargo on January 4 at the Cartagena terminal in southeast Spain. The 140,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Arctic Voyager” will deliver a cargo on January 7 to Baltic port of Klaipeda in Lithuania from the Hammerfest plant in Norway operated by Equinor. The 172,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Eduard Toll” will deliver a Yamal LNG cargo on January 8 to the Montoir-de-Bretagne terminal in Western France for the terminal operator Elengy.

Turkey, Europe’s second-largest liquefied natural gas importer, has deployed a new floating storage and regasification unit at the port of Aliaga, near Izmir.