Natural Gas Daily: July 22nd, 2020

US to Continue Energy Exports under Biden: Analyst

The US will continue exporting LNG and energy generally if Democrat candidate Joe Biden wins this November's presidential election, according to the director of the Washington, DC based think-tank Atlantic Council's global energy centre, Randolph Bell.

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• He told a webinar arranged by Singapore International Energy Week July 22 that the foreign policy goals of energy exports, and the benefits to the climate of coal substitution with gas, were too great for the US to pass up. "There is no chance of an export ban," he said.

Baker Hughes Posts Q2 Loss, Sees Continued Uncertainty

Energy technology and services provider Baker Hughes reported a net loss of $355mn in Q2 2020, up from an $11mn loss in the year-ago period. Operating income reversed to a $52mn loss from a $271mn profit.

• The turbomachinery & process solutions segment, Simonelli said, yielded a strong operating income margin of 12.8% in the quarter to lead all segments on that metric, while order bookings were off by just 6% from Q1 2020, at $1.3bn, although down 34% year-over-year.

Italian Prosecutors Seek Jail Time for Eni CEO: Press

Italian prosecutors have asked for eight years of jail time for Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, in a long-running trial over alleged graft in Nigeria, Bloomberg and other outlets reported on July 21.

• Eni and Shell acquired Nigerian oilfield OPL-245 in 2011 for $1.3bn, but prosecutors allege that they knew that most of the purchase price would be dispersed in bribes.

UK Govt Commits £350mn to Green Recovery

The UK government has committed around £350mn to cut emissions in heavy industry and drive economic recovery from coronavirus, it said. Switching from natural gas to hydrogen and improving the housing stock are among the targets, while emissions from aviation are to be tackled by a 'jet zero carbon' taskforce that has been newly launched.

• The package includes: £139mn to cut emissions in heavy industry by supporting the transition from natural gas to clean hydrogen power, and scaling up carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.

Uniper Welcomes Creation of UK Hydrogen Council

Germany's Uniper welcomes the UK government's creation of a hydrogen advisory council, it said, saying the move would support "the acceleration of technologies to get us to net-zero."

• Its creation comes after the European Commission unveiled its strategy for the largescale deployment of hydrogen energy earlier this month.

• Several other European countries, including Germany and Norway, have also published national hydrogen strategies this year.

French GTT Wins Chinese LNG Tank Order

French GTT last month received an order from China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corp. North China Company (CPECCNC), for the design of the containment system for a 29,000 m³ membrane full containment onshore tank intended for the Hejian LNG peak shaving plant, it said on July 21.

• Earlier this month, the French firm said it has received an order from Chinese shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for tank designs for three new LNG carriers on behalf of the Chinese ship-owner Cosco Shipping.