LNG

July 9 (LNGJ) - UK major Shell has taken a positive final investment decision to proceed with the Manatee natural gas project offshore Trinidad and Tobago to supply more feed gas to the Atlantic LNG export plant at Point Fortin in Trinidad. The Manatee gas field will provide backfill to Atlantic LNG as part of Shell’s strategy to boost utilisation at existing liquefaction plants.

   “This project will help meet the increasing demand for natural gas globally while also addressing the energy needs of our customers domestically in Trinidad and Tobago,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director. “The investment bolsters our world-leading LNG portfolio in line with our commitment to invest in competitive projects that deliver more value with less emissions,” she added.

UK major Shell has confirmed a deal as expected to acquire the liquefied natural gas assets of Pavilion Energy, the natural gas company set up by Singapore’s wealth fund Temasek to give the Asian island state energy security.

Woodside Energy, the Australian LNG plants operator with overseas assets in the US and Senegal, and UK major Shell are moving forward with separate oil and gas project, the Trion joint venture for Woodside and Shell’s Sparta deep-water development located in the Mexican and US portions of the Gulf of Mexico.

Woodside said it awarded a major contract to Mexican company Eseasa Offshore SA to supply shore base facilities and services for Woodside’s operations supporting the Trion oil and gas project offshore Mexico.

Woodside operates the Gulf of Mexico field, located in a water depth of 8,202 feet (2,500 metres), with a 60 percent stake while state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) holds the remaining 40 percent of the field discovered in 2012.

Support role

“The Mexican owned and operated company demonstrates the great capacity available in-country to support a world-class oil and gas project like Trion,” said Woodside Vice President for Trion Stephane Drouaud.

“It also reinforces Woodside’s commitment to investing locally and ensuring that the economic benefits of our investment in Trion are felt as broadly as possible across Mexican suppliers,” Drouaud stated.

“Eseasa will provide a broad range of services out of its shore base location on the Panuco River coastline The award of the contract is critical as we continue to progress the Trion project toward first oil in 2028,” he added.

Eseasa’s scope of includes shore base infrastructure, operations planning and management for vessel mooring, loading and discharge and freight and material management and dedicated laydown and staging areas.

Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of London-headquartered Shell plc, said a final investment decision has been made the for Sparta field, a deep-water development in the US Gulf of Mexico that represents a “competitive approach” for Shell to simplifying and replicating projects.

Shell and Equinor

Shell Offshore owns 51 percent of Sparta and is the operator and Norway’s Equinor owns the remaining 49 percent.

Sparta is expected to reach a peak production of around 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and currently has an estimated discovered recoverable resource volume of 244 million boe.

Sparta will be Shell’s 15th deep-water host in the Gulf of Mexico and is currently scheduled to begin production in 2028.

“Shell’s latest deep-water development demonstrates the power of replication, driving greater value from our advantaged positions,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director.

“This investment decision is aligned with our commitment to pursue the most energy-efficient and competitive projects while supplying safe, secure energy supplies today and for decades to come,” she added.

Shell explained that Sparta was building on more than 40 years of deep-water expertise and marks Shell’s first development in the Gulf of Mexico to produce from reservoirs with pressures up to 20,000 pounds per square inch.

The Sparta development spans four Outer Continental Shelf blocks in the Garden Banks area of the US Gulf.

“Sparta will feature a semi-submersible production host in a depth of more than 1,400m/4,700ft of water, initially with eight oil and gas producing wells,” Shell said.

UK major Shell said its subsidiary Shell Gas BV has signed an amended joint venture shareholder agreement in the Sultanate of Oman in the Arabian Peninsula for Oman LNG to extend the business beyond 2024.

Malaysian energy company Petronas and Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina have agreed with Shell to jointly acquire the UK company’s minority Masela natural gas block in Indonesian waters that will underpin the Abadi LNG export project in Indonesia and boost future cargo availability in the Pacific Basin.

Shell UK said it completed the restart of operations at the Pierce field in the UK Central North Sea after a significant upgrade project to allow natural gas to be produced after years of the field producing only oil.

Nov 1 (LNGJ) - Shell completed the sale of its 45 percent shareholding in the Malampaya gas field in the Philippines to Malampaya Energy XP Ltd, a subsidiary of Prime Infrastructure Capital of the Philippines. Shell staff will continue their employment under the new ownership. The other main remaining shareholder in the gas field is local company Udenna Corp.

   “Since operations began in 2002, the Malampaya gas field has supplied an important part of the Philippines’ energy demand through the dedicated work of our partners and staff, past and present,” said Zoe Yujnovich, Shell’s Upstream Director. “This sale supports our strategy to create a resilient and competitive Upstream portfolio,” she added. The Malampaya gas field is in the process of depleting and is increasing the urgency for LNG imports to the Philippines.

Shell UK has taken the final investment decision to develop the Jackdaw natural gas field in the UK North Sea following regulatory approvals granted earlier in 2022 and the gas volumes when brought on stream will slightly lessen LNG needs.

Royal Dutch Shell has decided to make changes to its executive team in Australia as it faces investment decisions in the months ahead on multibillion-dollar natural gas projects.

Royal Dutch Shell said its Queensland Curtis coal-seam-gas-to-LNG plant on Curtis island near Gladstone has just shipped its 500th cargo since coming onstream in 2014.