Natural Gas Daily: June 10th, 2020
No Quick Rebound from Gas Demand Crash: IEA
For the first time since the economic crash of 2008, global gas demand will experience a year-on-year drop in 2020, after only tepid – 1.8% – growth in demand in 2019. And the fall, of an estimated 4%, will be twice as big as that earlier drop, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Gas 2020.
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The Big Picture:
- Demand recovery will probably be slow, but the low gas price will help stimulate it; as will government policies to decarbonise their economies, particularly in Europe which needs gas to run smoothly, the report's authors told a web-based press conference June 9.
TAP Completes Offshore Pipelay
TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP) operating company has completed the 105-km offshore section of the pipeline under the Adriatic sea, it said June 9.
The Big Picture:
- The 878-km TAP plans to starting pumping gas to southern Europe in the autumn. Its phase 1 transport capacity is 10bn m3/yr of Azeri Shah Deniz stage 2 gas, but it is able to double its capacity to 20bn m3/yr, for which other gas suppliers will be able to bid.
Polish Gas Monopoly Moves into Renewables
Polish state gas import and supply monopoly PGNiG is branching out into renewable energy with a commitment to spend up to zlotys 4bn ($1bn) on acquisitions to help build up a 900-MW generating portfolio in the coming few years, it said June 9. It said this would be a hedge against volatile oil and gas prices, whose plummeting value led to huge impairments in its assets this year.
The Big Picture:
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It aims to become the country's leading player in the renewable energy sector and has already committed to spend money developing hydrogen projects, but with only a modest initial investment.
Germany Sets up Hydrogen Council
The German government, which last week adopted a national hydrogen strategy, has set up a national hydrogen council (NHC) as its expert advisory body, the Finnish-owned utility Uniper said.
The Big Picture:
- The German gas industry group Zukunft Erdgas (ZE) said that the strategy's definition of hydrogen needed to be expanded to include blue and other types.
- Uniper has introduced in March a 2035 decarbonisation strategy that entails quitting coal, expanding gas and developing hydrogen technology.
CNPC, Private Partner Plan LNG Terminal in Guangdong
State-run CNPC signed an agreement with privately-owned GCL Oil and Gas Company, the Maoming City government, and the Maoming Port Group, to build an LNG receiving terminal in the Guangdong province, CNPC said on June 9 in a statement.
The Big Picture:
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CNPC said the project will accelerate the usage of gas in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
- It is easy to forget that it is demand growth, not demand, that is falling.
US Edge LNG Lands Biggest Upstream Contract
US small-scale gas liquefaction company Edge LNG is to collect and liquefy gas from a stranded well in the Marcellus shale and sell it to its customers, it said. Initial operations are underway and expected to continue through 2022.
The Big Picture:
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It also hopes to pull off similar deals in other shale plays in the Permian and the Bakken before the end of the year. A lot of gas is flared in both regions which are primarily oil producing, so this technology will cut greenhouse gas emissions.
