Natural Gas Daily: January 6th, 2021
OPEC+ MEETING DECISION BOOSTS CRUDE PRICE
The virtual meeting of Opec oil ministers and some from other, co-operating countries – collectively Opec+ – held January 4-5 saw Saudi Arabia take a bigger share of the cuts as output elsewhere gradually rises over the coming months. The effect was a sudden rise in crude prices and the US benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate, rose above $50/barrel. Oil company share prices also benefited.
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Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy said the news had gone down well in the US, as the Saudi "gift" had helped put a floor beneath prices. "Expect to see upside surprises to shale output for the third cycle in a row, which is the ever-lasting dilemma of Saudi oil market balancing," it said.
OZ EAST COAST LNG EXPORTS UP 1% IN 2020
LNG exports from three projects on the Australian east coast came to 22.36mn metric tons in 2020, up over 1% year/year despite the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest data published by Gladstone Ports Corporation. Revenue though would have been lower as the oil price, to which LNG exports are pegged, fell sharply.
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The projects are APLNG; Gladstone LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG.
CANADIAN UTILITY FILES TO EXPAND LNG STORAGE
FortisBC, the natural gas and LNG utility serving the province of British Columbia, said January 6 it had applied to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) for approval of its Tilbury LNG Storage Expansion project.
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The C$769mn (US$606mn) project involves replacing legacy assets at FortisBC’s existing Tilbury Island LNG regasification terminal in the Vancouver suburb of Delta with 3bn ft3 (about 85mn m3) of new storage capacity and 800mn ft3/day of LNG regasification capacity.
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The Tilbury Island complex has been operating as a liquefaction and regas terminal since 1971 and is seeking regulatory approvals for a C$3bn expansion that would increase liquefaction capacity to 4.5mn mt/yr.
CHIYODA TO BUILD FLOATING GAS TO POWER FACILITY IN PAPUA NG
Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation has been awarded the design development and engineering contract of a new floating, storage, re-gasification and power generation facility by Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Kumul Petroleum Holdings, it said on January 5.
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Chiyoda said that the project is an important step towards meeting the demand and supply requirement set out in the PNG 2030 Strategic Plan, which has set goals of connecting 70% of the PNG population to secure electricity by 2030.
NORWAY APPROVES POLISH E&P PURCHASES
Norway's upstream regulator NPD has approved PGNiG's purchases of licences covering the Kvitebjorn and Valemon gas fields in the North Sea, the Polish state company said January 5. The new acquisitions, from Anglo-Dutch major Shell which were announced in September, will contribute to a substantial increase in the PGNiG Group’s gas production volume on the Norwegian Continental Shelf from this year. The deals include infrastructure needed to transport the gas.
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According to estimates, in 2023–2028 the two fields will deliver about 0.2bn m³/yr to PGNiG Upstream Norway, which will be transported to Poland through the Baltic Pipe.
SINOPEC FINISHES 1ST PHASE OF WEIRONG SHALE GAS FIELD
Chinese state-run Sinopec has completed the first phase of the Weirong shale gas field in Sichuan province, it said in a January 6 statement. The work on the project started last year.
- Weirong is the second shale gas development project undertaken by Sinopec in Sichuan province. The company operates the Fuling shale gas field that became operational in 2014. The Fuling field produced 6.7bn m3 of gas last year, up 6% year/year, Sinopec said on January 5.