LNG

July 8 (LNGJ) - Equinor, the Norwegian oil, gas and LNG producer and the main supplier of pipeline gas to Europe, said ahead of second-quarter earnings on July 24 that the company’s internal natural gas price for the three months rose to $8.47 per million British thermal units, up from $7.76 per MMBtu in the first quarter of 2024.

   Equinor’s internal transfer price for natural gas is a volume weighted average price calculated at the end of every quarter after deducting costs relating to bringing the gas from the processing plants to market and a marketing fee element. The price components include values of the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) amounting to 22.5 percent of the total, the UK National Balancing Point (NBP) with 30 percent input, Germany’s Trading Hub Europe (THE) price at 22.5 percent and the French Point d’Echange de Gaz (PEG) 25 percent.

The UK-based Prax Group, a company whose business covers exploration and production to refining, has signed an agreement to acquire the interests of TotalEnergies in the UK North Sea Greater Laggan Area comprising mainly gas fieds and the Shetland Gas Plant.

Prax said it was buying the onshore Shetland Gas Plant as well as the French major’s interests in several nearby exploration licences.  The transaction whose value was not disclosed is subject to approval from the relevant authorities.

The Greater Laggan Area fields include the Laggan, Tormore, Glenlivet, Edradour and Glendronach fields and are located about 140 kilometres (87 miles) west of the Shetland Islands.

Current production for the TotalEnergies interests is around 7,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day, made up of about 90 percent natural gas.

Sullom Voe location

The Shetland Gas Plant is located at Sullom Voe and is the collection and gas processing facility for the offshore Laggan-Tormore projects, comprising two large gas and gas condensate fields.

The Laggan and Tormore gas fields are in sea depths of 600 metres (2,000 ft).

The Shetland Gas Plant is also connected to the Shetland Islands Regional Gas Export (SIRGE) pipeline, which is 234km in length with capacity of 665 million standard cubic feet per day.

The SIRGE pipeline provides transportation services for the export of gas from the West of Shetland fields to the UK mainland market.

Prax had previously acquired Hurricane Energy in 2023. This is a UK-based oil and gas exploration and production company with a 100 percent operated interest in the Lancaster offshore oil field in the West of Shetland basin.

“With a strong track record of integrating acquisitions and managing assets in the oil and gas value chain, the Prax Group is a long-standing and trusted partner of TotalEnergies,” explained Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Prax Group.

“The announcement of the signing of this agreement is the culmination of many months of solid co-operation between our respective companies,” he added.

UK value chain

“Our strong balance sheet has enabled the Group to execute its growth strategy having successfully completed two major acquisitions last year, and with two other transactions in the pipeline, I am delighted that the Prax Group is able to announce its proposed expansion in West of Shetland, as part of our long-term plan to strengthen our position across the whole oil and gas value chain,” stated the Prax CEO.

Discussing the reasoning behind the sale by TotalEnergies, the company’s Jean-Luc Guiziou, Senior Vice President in Europe for Exploration and Production, said that the transaction was in line with the company’s strategy to continuously adapt its portfolio by divesting mature non-core assets.

“TotalEnergies remains committed to the UK through both its upstream portfolio in the North Sea (Elgin-Franklin, Culzean and Alwyn fields) and its Integrated Power and Renewables portfolio,” Guiziou stated.

The Prax Group is headquartered in the UK and describes itself as a British multinational and independent E&P company and with a distribution and sales unit dealing in petroleum products and bio-fuels.

The Prax Group also has US and Asian offices in Houston, Texas, and in Singapore. 

Flogas Britain Ltd, a leading provider of liquefied natural gas of liquefied petroleum gas to off-grid customers in the North of the UK has opened a new operational terminal in Teesside that will improve the supply chain.

Flogas, a unit of energy group DCC Plc, said the new facility would initially provide up to 90,000 tonnes of LPG each year to homes and businesses across the Northern England, Scotland and North Wales.

Commissioned by Flogas Britain, alongside partners North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP) and Exolum Seal Sands Ltd (Exolum), the facility is set to improve the security of supply nationwide while also reducing the reliance on imports.

Offshore

“This facility delivers a significant, critical supply of LPG to the UK, and we’re delighted to see it now up and running,” said Paul Horton, Chief Operating Officer at Flogas.

“This has been a vital part of our plan to provide proper energy resilience for both our commercial and domestic customers, and in the short time it’s been live, we’ve already seen a huge step change in our supply capability in the North,” Horton added.

Previously LPG was extracted from North Sea gas reserves at the NSMP-owned Teesside Gas Processing Plant (TGPP) and was being exported to global markets.

Now, thanks to the deal between Flogas, NSMP and Exolum, it’s being turned inland instead, helping to improve the UK’s own supply.

LPG is fractionated at TGPP, then transported and stored in five 125-tonne storage bullets, owned by Exolum.

With its extensive delivery network, Flogas then delivers the LPG across Northern England, Scotland and Wales, reaching even the most remote locations.

“Alongside the new Teesside terminal, Flogas has invested heavily in developing the UK’s largest above-ground LPG storage facility in Avonmouth, Bristol, which went live last year,” added Horton.

Former Avonnouth LNG site

“Now Teesside is fully operational, any surplus LPG supply we have, will be transferred, and stored at Avonmouth to help prepare for peak heating season in Winter 2024,” he explained.   

The Flogas Avonmouth Storage facility is the largest of its kind in the UK, with the capacity to store 34,564 tonnes of LPG.

Formerly owned by National Grid Plc, operator of the Grain LNG import terminal on the Medeay River southeast of London, the Avonmouth facility was previously only able to store LNG. However, work was carried out to convert it to an LPG facility.

“With the two sites working in parallel, we’ll be able to provide a new level of energy security for the UK’s off-grid community - it’s a real game changer,” Horton stated.

Over the past 12 months, the team has been readying the Teesside facility for the new intake, constructing road loading racks and process infrastructure to receive the LPG.

It also has the capacity to be a gateway for renewable gases in the future with space for additional storage vessels to be installed.

This provides the opportunity to blend renewable fuels, such as bio-propane and renewable Di-Methyl Ether (RDME) with LPG in the future.

Repsol, the Spanish oil and gas company and liquefied natural gas market participant, has acquired a 40 percent stake in Genia Bioenergy, Spain’s main developer of natural gas made from waste to boost its presence in the bio-LNG bunkering sector.

Genia Bioenergy is developing 19 plants producing biogas made from agricultural and livestock waste in Spain and Portugal.

The biogas produced will be used both for Repsol's internal consumption and for marketing to customers. Repsol did not disclose any financial details about the transaction with Genia Bioenergy.

Fuels sector

“This agreement is an important step forward in our strategy to take advantage of substrates and organic waste and transform them into fuels for the home, industry and mobility,” said Juan Abascal, Repsol's Executive Managing Director of Industrial Transformation and the Circular Economy.

Repsol added that Genia Bioenergy is the only Spanish company that integrates the entire biogas and biomethane value chain, from the development of technologies to the engineering and construction and the biological and technical operation at the projects.

The Spanish major explained that the emerging biogas industry in Spain and Portugal will contribute to solving the problem that organic waste currently represents for administrations, since it takes advantage of waste that would otherwise generate emissions into the atmosphere as it degrades in landfills.

It also represents an opportunity to generate economic activity in rural areas.

According to Gabriel Butler, Chief Executive of Genia Bioenergy, the biogas plants will help meet the Iberian Peninsula’s European Union obligations on carbon emissions.

“The development of biomethane plants advances Spain's goal of decarbonization of the economy, reduces its energy dependence on foreign countries and provides a sustainable response to European guidelines on waste management,” said Butler.

Rural economy

“It also means the creation of qualified jobs and the boosting of economic ecosystems around waste, especially in rural environments,” he added.

In the LNG sector, Repsol has been building up its LNG bunkering business in recent years and has an agreement with French company Brittany Ferries to supply its vessels arriving at ports in Spain with LNG fuel.

In conventional LNG trading Repsol is also one of the companies with an as yet unfulfilled sale and purchase agreement with Venture Global of the US for the Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana.

Repsol additionally signed a deal in February 2024 to supply UK utility company Centrica with 1 million tonnes of LNG shipments between 2025 and 2027.

Centrica said at the time that all of these cargoes were expected to be delivered to the UK Grain LNG import terminal located on the Medway River in Kent, southeast England.

March 25 (LNGJ) - The UK is scheduled to receive a US LNG cargo on March 27 as prices remain solid at the end of the winter season at around the equivalent of $8.720 per million British thermal units on the National Balancing Point market. Spot natural gas prices on the European Energy Exchange also rose. The Dutch TTF day-ahead spot price was at the equivalent of $8.740 per MMBtu.

   The cargo heading for the UK South Hook terminal in Milford Haven in Wales is onboard the vessel “Lech Kaczynski” with 174,000 cubic metres capacity. The shipment was loaded on March 13 at the Cameron export plant in Louisiana.

WaveCrest Energy has announced the start of a market consultation process for a proposed Teesside Flexible Regas Port as the UK’s third liquefied natural gas import destination in advance of a planned capacity auction to be launched in the third quarter of 2024.

Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, the UK’s Isle of Grain facility on the Medway River in Kent, has extended its capacity agreement with the Algerian national energy company Sonatrach.

Grain LNG, owned by a subsidiary of National Grid Plc, said a 10-year agreement was signed to extend the long-term storage and redelivery capacity of Sonatrach at the UK terminal from January 2029.

This is the first agreement signed for around 3 million tonnes per annum of capacity from Grain LNG’s competitive auction process which was launched in September 2023.

“The successful outcome of the auction further secures the future of Europe’s largest terminal into the next decade,” said the company.

The Grain LNG terminal, sited about 43 miles (69 kilometres) southeast of London, is currently expanding to store and deliver enough gas to meet up to 33 percent of UK gas demand.

Security

“This helps ensure the UK’s energy security as LNG imports play a critical role in making sure the UK has the gas it needs, when it needs it and providing a flexible and reliable supply to heat peoples’ homes and to complement the growth of renewable generation,” said Katie Jackson, President of National Grid Ventures, owner of the terminal.

“This agreement ensures that Grain will continue to have a diverse supplier base within the Atlantic Basin,” added Jackson.

“I am delighted that Sonatrach have once again shown a long-term commitment to our world-class site which UK consumers rely on, and I look forward to continuing our working relationship with them in the coming years,” she stated.

Mayouf Belgacem, Executive Vice President of Sonatrach, said LNG would continue to play a critical role in worldwide energy supply.

Algeria, the longest-standing global exporter of LNG supplies to Europe, operates two liquefaction and export plants at Skikda and Arzew on the Mediterranean Coast.

“We have expressed our willingness to strengthen our position as a long-term partner of Grain LNG and as a substantial contributor to UK gas security of supply,” Belgacem explained.

Guaranteed access

“Besides, this agreement offers Sonatrach guaranteed access to Europe’s largest terminal which helps line up Sonatrach’s long-term marketing strategy by diversifying its markets,” said the Sonatrach executive .

The Isle of Grain terminal had launched its auction for 9 MTPA of existing capacity and Sonatrach has now been a leading beneficiary.

There is also an expansion project underway at the UK facility that will see LNG storage at the terminal increase in 2025 to around 1.2 million cubic metres.

In the past 12 months the UK terminal has unloaded almost 120 carriers originating from multiple countries.

In addition to Algerian volumes, the terminal has received cargoes from the US, Qatar, Angola, Nigeria, Norway, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.

Grain LNG, as part of the National Grid Ventures subsidiary, operates outside of National Grid’s core regulated businesses in the UK.

National Grid Ventures has a diverse portfolio including subsea electricity interconnectors, competitive transmission, wind and solar generation, battery storage as well as the Grain LNG storage and regasification infrastructure.

The United Kingdom, one of Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas importers and with new natural gas projects planned for the North Sea, is set to roll back and delay Net Zero emissions policies with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declaring that Britain’s new response to the climate change dilemma has to be a “proportionate” one rather than being imposed on ordinary people by an elite minority, personified by Sunak himself who is a former investment banker with a vacation home in Santa Monica, California.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the leading global provider of energy trading platforms for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to European and Asian LNG and natural gas futures and options, has reported record activity in the ICE Midland WTI contract this month with participants using the contract to deliver physical Midland WTI barrels into Dated Brent and the rest of the Brent complex.

Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, the UK’s Isle of Grain facility on the Medway River in Kent, has hit a new utilisation record over the past 12 months.