NEW FORTRESS PLANS LNG POWER PLANT IN NICARAGUA

New Fortress Energy (NFE) has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Nicaraguan electricity distributors DisNorte and DisSur, the US company said on February 17, underpinning the construction of a 300-MW gas-fired power plant near the country's port of Puerto Sandino. 

Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. ngc.co.tt

The Big Picture:  

• NFE is developing LNG import and export projects in the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico and the US.

• It also last year signed a preliminary deal to construct a new regasification terminal in Angola – an LNG exporting country.

• The New York-based firm last month secured a $800mn loan facility from private equity firm Apollo Global Management to fund construction of LNG infrastructure.

PETROFAC BAGS $1.65BN IN UAE CONTRACTS

Petrofac has secured $1.65bn in contracts from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) for engineering work at the offshore Dalma gas project in the UAE, the UK company announced on February 18.

 The Big Picture:

• Dalma is within the Ghasha ultra-sour gas concession, a project which the UAE is banking on to help achieve its goal of becoming gas self-sufficient.

• In October last year Russia's Lukoil took a 5% stake in Ghasha, which consists of nine undeveloped fields expected to flow more than 40mn m3/day of gas and 120,000 b/day of liquids.          

OZ EAST COAST GAS SUPPLY-DEMAND OUTLOOK HAS IMPROVED: ACCC

The 2020 supply-demand outlook in the Australian east coast gas market has improved and LNG netback prices have decreased, but domestic prices remain high and there is significant uncertainty about future supplies, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in its Gas Inquiry 2017-25 Interim Report.

The Big Picture:

• “Southern states risk facing a shortfall in the medium term unless there is more exploration and development in the south, or new infrastructure to bring more supply to southern states,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.

MALAYSIAN MISC'S 2019 PROFIT UP 9%

Malaysian shipowner MISC, a unit of state-run Petronas, February 18 reported an 8.8% yr/yr increase net profit for 2019.

The Big Picture: 

• Revenues from the LNG segment last year were up 10% yr/yr, thanks to a higher number of operating vessels following the acquisition of two LNG carriers, one in December 2018 and another January 2019.

UK’S LOC GROUP LANDS LNG CANADA CONTRACT

London-based LOC Group said February 17 it has secured a multi-year contract to provide marine warranty surveyor (MWS) services and vessel quality assurance to the Anglo-Dutch Shell-led LNG Canada project.

The Big Picture: 

• Under terms of the contract, LOC will oversee the transportation of more than 200 modules – some as large as 7,500 metric tons – from fabrication yards in Asia to the LNG Canada project site near Kitimat, on BC’s northern coast.

RUSSIA MULLS AUCTIONING OFF CASPIAN BLOCKS: PRESS

Russian natural resources minister Dmitry Kobylkin has recommended that the licences for three new oil and gas blocks in the northern Caspian Sea should be auctioned off, the Moscow-based Kommersant newspaper reported on February 17.

 The Big Picture: 

• Lukoil is the only active oil and gas producer in the Russian zone of the Caspian.

• Last month Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov also wrote to Putin, requesting that his company receive exploration rights to the Tyuleniy-1, Tyuleniy-2 and Tyuleniy-3 blocks without a competition.