Daily Digest: February 19th, 2020

OZ WORLEY WINS MOZAMBIQUE LNG CONTRACT

Australian engineering and services company Worley has been awarded two master service agreements by Total E&P Mozambique Area 1 to provide services to the Mozambique LNG project, Worley said in a statement.

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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.

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The Big Picture:

Total has a 26.5% stake in Mozambique LNG – a $20bn scheme to produce up to 12.88mn mt/yr of LNG from gas resources in the Rovuma basin off Mozambique.

OMAN AWARDS UPSTREAM CONTRACT TO TOTAL, PTTEP

Oman has awarded a contract to France's Total and Thailand's PTTEP to explore and develop non-associated gas resources, its oil and gas ministry said on social media.

The Big Picture:

The latest award comes after Oman signed an agreement in July last year giving Italy's Eni and UK BP exploration rights to Block 77.

NEPTUNE PRODUCES FIRST GAS FROM DUTCH WELL

UK independent Neptune Energy has produced first gas from its new L5a-D4 well offshore the Netherlands, it said.

The Big Picture:

Neptune said it was looking for opportunities to grow its business in the Netherlands and to enhance its offshore gas production.
Dutch gas production is changing rapidly as the main gas field Groningen is due to be out of service from 2022, in response to the tremors caused by drilling and production over the decades.

UK SPARROWS WINS QATAR CONTRACT

UK Sparrows Group has secured a contract to manufacture three cranes for Qatargas’ North Field expansion project, it said.

The Big Picture:

Sparrows employs about 300 people across the Middle East at its bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
QP aims to launch four more 8mn mt/yr LNG trains under the North Field Expansion (NEF) project, raising Qatar’s overall production capacity to 110mn mt/yr.

EU-27 SEE DEMAND UP, OUTPUT DOWN IN 2019

Statistics from the Joint Organisations' Data Initiative (Jodi) has just been released and gas production was down by a massive 11% in the EU-27 last year. With EU-27 gas demand up by 5%, the foreign dependency factor set a record of 83%.

The Big Picture:

The demand saw contrasting evolution between the UK (- 2%) and Germany (+ 12%) and Spain (+ 14%).
This can be explained by the coal-to-gas switching that is happening now in Germany and Spain thanks to low gas prices.

FINNISH GASUM GAINS ON GAS GROWTH

Finnish state utility Gasum reported an operating profit for 2019 of €141.4mn ($153mn), 14% up on 2018, despite a 4% year on year drop in revenue to €1.13bn thanks to lower gas prices.

The Big Picture:

Gasum is optimistic about the future of gas: Finland has banned coal-fired power by 2030, which it said may increase Finnish use of natural gas during the transition period.
Industrial use of gas is forecast to grow in the coming years as it can help achieve significant emission cuts cost-effectively compared with petroleum-based fuel."

NOVATEK GETS PROFIT BOOST FROM ARCTIC LNG-2 SALES

Net profits at Russia's top LNG exporter Novatek shot up to rubles 865.5bn ($13.6bn) in 2019, from rubles 163.7bn in the year before, on the back of sales of stakes in its $21.3bn Arctic LNG-2 export project.

The Big Picture:

Novatek netted rubles 675bn last year from the sale of 40% of Arctic LNG-2 to France's Total, China's CNPC and Cnooc and Japan's Mitsui and Jogmec.
Revenues were also up 3.7% at 862.8bn, while core earnings (Ebitda) increased 11% to rubles 461.2bn, the company said in its financial report.
It attributed these gains to higher sales from the Yamal LNG project, which reached its full three-train capacity at the end of 2018, and higher gas prices in Russia.

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