LNG

Last month, Australian oil and gas developer, Woodside reported a record production of 193.9 mill barrels of oil equivalent (Boe) for 2024.

US-based LNG developer, New Fortress Energy (NFE) suffered a net loss of $224 mill in the fourth quarter of 2024 and $242 mill for the full year.

By announcing revenues of around €45 mill in fiscal year 2024 and an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30%, Vanzetti Engineering is increasingly becoming the cryogenic pump OEM benchmark at an international level, the company claimed.

In 2024, 70% of the company's business was concentrated in the Asian market and the remaining 30% in Europe, with a specific focus on the marine and biogas sectors.

Marine fuel gas system (FGSS) solutions achieved greater success on the market in 2024, in particular the ARTIKA series of submerged cryogenic pumps and the VT-3 duplex high-pressure reciprocating pumps.

“I am delighted to confirm that in 2024 we have again achieved all our major corporate goals. This new milestone was possible thanks to the development of the marine market, supported by long-term partnerships and solid relations with all Asian and European stakeholders, thus strengthening our international presence as a cryogenic pump OEM in diversified sectors,” said Valeria Vanzetti Ghio, sole Director of Vanzetti Engineering.

“The company is investing significant resources in the development of sustainable technologies for the future, in line with its mission, in expanding design and production capabilities, as well as enhancing organisation to meet future challenges, providing customers and end users with quality and reliability throughout the product lifecycle,” she said.

Despite the downturn in the automotive LNG market in Europe, which is temporarily held back by the LNG price, due to the current geopolitical situation and the incentive policies for electric vehicles (EVs), Vanzetti Engineering said it is confidently looking ahead to new projects in the pipeline this year.

Among these are the design of a new family of retractable pumps, which places the company in a position to seize emerging opportunities in the small-scale LNG terminal market, as well as access to new segments of the marine dual fuel market through the strengthening of its high and low pressure pump range.

On the operational side, 2024 saw the completion of production capacity expansion and the start-up design of new test benches for the company’s product range future developments. 

South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) plans to conduct a demonstration project in April to recover the evaporation gas from an under construction 7,900 TEU LNG-powered containership and use it as an energy source within its business site.

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Extreme wintery weather conditions have unravelled the schedule for shipping the first LNG cargo from the landmark LNG Canada project, Petronas disclosed. Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas major said it cannot lift the first cargo from its equity stake the Shell-led liquefaction plant in Kitimat, British Columbia, until July 2025. 

The European Union (EU) considers backing investments in overseas fossil fuel infrastructure and moving to long-term LNG contracts to cut high energy prices while US President Trump is pressing the EU to buy more US energy sources. Brussels has sent envoys to Washington to negotiate and is keen to strike an LNG deal. 

Wholesale natural gas and propane prices in the US kept rising from late 2024 well into January and early February due to unseasonably cold weather. “Timing and magnitude of actual price increases were faster and greater than initially forecast,” the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) commented.

January’s cold weather caused a jump in natural gas consumption – both for heating and electric power generation – and resulted in near-record withdrawals of gas from storage. Similarly, U.S. propane inventories were drawn down fast from healthy levels at the start of the winter. U.S. propane exports are also at record highs which tends to elevate domestic propane prices.

“Weather outcomes are a key source of uncertainty in our forecasts,” EIA analysts noted, explaining that residential propane and heating oil expenditures tend to have wider ranges of uncertainty than fossil fuels. By comparison, natural gas and electricity prices tend to lag changes in wholesale prices because of the nature of utility regulation. 

US President Trump trade and sanction policies could hurt LNG markets: “His opening salvo in a US-China trade war has been fired, with 10% tariffs on Chinese goods and retaliatory 15% tariffs on US LNG,” analysts warn. Closer to home, Trump’s action to levy a 10% tariff on Canadian gas imports drives up prices and could force producers in Alberta to lower prices in an effort to stay competitive.

Energy industry executives in Germany and large parts of Europe have expressed hopes that policy changes under the new U.S. administration can improve competitiveness, provided governments are “pragmatic” in dealing with President Trump’s fossil-fuel-friendly agenda. Over in Brussels, in contrast, the European Commission is preparing to fine fossil fuel companies for producing “excessive methane emissions.”