LNG

Kent, the privately-owned international integrated energy services company headquartered in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, has won a natural gas pipeline project contract to improve energy security for some of the smaller of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.

The Kent group, which is backed by private equity firm Bluewater, was named as the project management consultant (PMC) for the new pipeline in the northern UAE to supply RAKGAS.

RAKGAS is a state-owned energy business set up in 1984 in Ras Al Khaimah, transitioning from a gas company to a diverse energy provider.

Ras Al Khaimah is the largest city and capital of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.

It is the sixth-largest city in the UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain and Ajman.

Pipeline route

The pipeline will stretch from the Taweelah-Fujairah Gas Pipeline to Ras Al Khaimah with a connection to the Sajaa gas storage in the Sharjah emirate.   

The Taweelah-Fujairah link is an existing natural gas pipeline running for 244 kilometres (152 miles) in length from Taweelah in Abu Dhabi to Al Fujairah.

Kent will be responsible for coordinating efforts between RAKGAS and the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study contractor, ensuring that the project’s progression remains on target and aligned with its planned objectives.

“Collaborating with Kent on this project is a testament to our vision for energy supply in the region,” said RAKGAS Chief Executive Chris Wood.

“Their expertise and experience in the UAE will steer this project to success, ensuring we deliver on our commitments for energy security in Ras Al Khaimah,” Woods stated.

Partnership

Tush Doshi, Chief Operating Officer at Kent, said he was proud to partner with RAKGAS on this project.

“It will allow us to bring our world-class PMC delivery expertise to the Northern Emirates,” Doshi explained.

“We look forward to a long-lasting relationship with RAKGAS, as we ensure a continuous and seamless execution across leading energy projects in the region,” said the Kent COO.

Both Kent and RAKGAS added that they had adopted a “proactive approach” to addressing the region’s energy needs.

The Kent group is growing as a Middle East player. It gained some engineering traction in July 2021 when it completed the acquisition of the majority of the oil and gas division of Montreal, Canada-based engineers SNC-Lavalin.

Intercontinental Exchange, the leading operator of global energy derivative exchanges and clearing houses, is planning to launch its oil future contract for liquefied natural exporter Abu Dhabi on March 29, backed by leading LNG sector players.

The exchange said that that trading on the ICE Murban Crude Oil Futures (IFAN) is going ahead subject to the completion of regulatory approvals

The IFAN futures debut in the markets had been delayed in 2020 by the market oil market slump and the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are making good progress on securing the regulatory approvals necessary for launch. We have received approval from the Bank of England for ICE Clear Europe to clear contracts traded on IFAD and IFAD is now a Recognized Market Operator by the Monetary Authority of Singapore,” explained Jamal Oulhadj, President of ICE Futures in Abu Dhabi.

“We believe that the combination of our partners, ICE’s extensive global energy network and customer base, and the capital efficiencies created by clearing Murban alongside Brent, West Texas Intermediate, and Dubai, mean that Murban futures should have a deep base of support as the market uses the futures to buy, sell and hedge Murban crude,” added Oulhadj.

The Murban Crude Oil Future is a physically delivered contract, basis free-onboard (FOB) cargo at the Fujairah loading terminal in the UAE.

The contract will provide users with an effective hedging instrument for Arab Gulf crude oil and other grades of trading into the Asia-Pacific region.

Abu Dhabi also produces LNG as well as oil for the United Arab Emirates and is aiming to increase its natural gas resources by investing more in exploration and production in the next few years.

It currently produces around 5.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG at the Das Island liquefaction plant off Abu Dhabi.

In addition to the approvals from the Bank of England and Monetary Authority of Singapore, ICE Futures Abu Dhabi said it had completed the relevant regulatory processes or analysis required to permit direct access to IFAD from a range of jurisdictions including Abu Dhabi Global Market, the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Contracts traded at IFAD will be cleared at ICE Clear Europe, a leading energy clearing house, and will clear alongside ICE’s global energy futures platform covering oil, natural gas and the environmental complex, allowing customers to benefit from associated margin offsets.

Inpex Corp., the Japanese oil and gas company with stakes in major LNG export plants and projects such as Ichthys and Prelude FLNG in Australia and Abadi LNG in Indonesia, is one of the companies that IFAD venture.

The other energy companies joining the launch of IFAD include Royal Dutch Shell, BP of the UK, PetroChina, Total, PTT of Thailand, Japan’s JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy and the international commodities traders Vitol.

Wintershall DEA of Germany would become the leading independent oil and gas producer in Europe when the merger is completed by mid-2019 between Wintershall and Deutsche Erdoel AG (DEA), with operations stretching from Argentina’s Shale Basin to Russia, though unusually for an energy company of its size with no presence in the LNG sector.

The United Arab Emirates, the LNG producer that is expanding its natural gas and oil exploration in Abu Dhabi, has signed two concession agreements with Italian energy company Eni and its joint venture partner from Thailand, PTT Exploration and Production Company.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the leading energy group in the United Arab Emirates and a long-standing LNG exporter with investment plans in downstream projects to boost natural gas production, has signed a deal to allow US energy services firm Baker Hughes-GE to acquire a stake in subsidiary ADNOC Drilling.

Chiyoda Corp. of Japan, one of the main builders of Middle East LNG export capacity, has signed an accord with the LNG production company of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to provide digital technologies and analytics for its liquefaction plant.