Natural Gas Daily: September 2nd, 2020

Gazprom Ramps up August Exports to Europe

Gazprom’s flows were up massively in August 2020 compared with July (+24.2%); they were even – and for the first time this year – above last year's (+8.3%).

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• Gazprom was not immune to the low prices; during its August 31 conferece call, it disclosed it received a record low price for its gas sold in Europe.

• The highest increase over last month was for the direct flow (+50.4%) as between 14 to 26 July, Nord Stream was closed for its annual maintenance.

Global Regas Capacity Under Construction Hits 10-Year High: WoodMac

Global regasification capacity under construction is expected to hit a 10-year high at 144mn metric tons/year in 2020, Wood Mackenzie said in a note.

• The world's fastest growing demand centre, China, is leading the capacity additions, accounting for over a third or 52.6mn mt/yr of total capacity including 22.4mn mt/yr at 10 new terminals, WoodMac said.

• India is also building five new terminals with 20mn mt/yr of total capacity.

Indian ONGC's Q1 Profit Drops 92%

Indian state-run ONGC on September 1 reported a standalone profit of rupees 4.96bn ($68mn) during the three months to June 30 (Q1), down 91.7% yr/yr due to lower realised oil and gas prices.

• The IEA projects Indian output will grow by 12bn m³ from 2019 to 2025, based on higher offshore production. Achieving growth of this order would be difficult in a country where production has been hamstrung for years by fiscal, regulatory and technical problems.

• Some progress has been made on gas pricing and regulatory issues, but the sector remains dogged by problems, not least of them geological and technical.

Ovintiv, PetroChina End Canadian JV

Denver-based Ovintiv and PetroChina Canada (PCC) said September 1 they would end an eight-year joint venture in Alberta’s liquids-rich gas and condensate Duvernay play, with each taking on full ownership and operations of about 250,000 net acres of assets.

• “It is also a major development in our upstream capabilities, which include increasing production at our MacKay River commercial project in northern Alberta, and continuing progress with our Groundbirch tight gas asset in British Columbia which will provide equity gas for our interest in LNG Canada,” PCC CEO Jilin Fu said.

Brazil Approves Further Gas Market Liberalisation

Brazil's lower house of parliament approved a new gas regulatory framework aimed at opening the sector up to competition.

• Brazil has already taken other steps to liberalise its gas industry and end the de-facto monopoly of Petrobras over supply, including allowing other gas producers to use the national company's processing capacity.

• Petrobras has already begun divesting some of its distribution operations.

Tokyo Gas Sets Up LNG Trading Unit

Japanese utility Tokyo Gas on September 1 announced it has established a wholly owned subsidiary, TG Global Trading (TGT), to further develop its LNG trading business.

• Tokyo Gas group has set the goal to expand its natural gas transaction volume to 20mn metric tons which includes expanding the LNG trading volume to 5mn mt by 2030.