Cameron LNG Liquefaction-Export Facility Begins Production At Train 2

Press release as follows: Sempra LNG, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, today announced that Cameron LNG has begun producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the second liquefaction train of the export facility in Hackberry, Louisiana.   "We are pleased to reach this important milestone in the development of the liquefaction facility," said Lisa Glatch, chief operating officer of Sempra LNG and board chair for Cameron LNG. Train 2 and...

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McDermott, Chiyoda and Zachry Group Announce First Cargo from Freeport LNG Train 2

First cargo of liquefied natural gas shipped from Train 2 of the Freeport LNG project Project team maintains a continuous focus on safety and quality Accomplishment is a precursor to substantial completion of Train 2 Below is the full press release from McDermott HOUSTON, Dec. 18, 2019 McDermott International, Inc. along with its partners, Chiyoda International Corporation and Zachry Group, announced today that the first commissioning cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been shipped from Train 2 of the Freeport LNG project on Quintana...

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Cheniere: Innovative deal structuring on Corpus Christi

This year saw one of the first innovative upstream gas supply deals for a US Gulf Coast liquefaction plant. In June, Cheniere had signed a long term gas supply agreement with Apache for its Corpus Christi Stage III trains. The Corpus Christi Stage III project is being developed to include up to seven midscale liquefaction trains with a total expected nominal production capacity of approximately 9.5mtpa. The supply agreement will be for gas volumes of 15mmbtu/day, delivered to Corpus Christi, and more importantly Apache will receive a gas price...

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PGNiG confirms termination of Russian gas imports from end 2022

Poland's PGNiG has notified Gazprom of its intention to terminate imports of Russian pipeline gas from the end of 2022. This will now increase the country's reliant on US LNG (which at this time many US Gulf Coast LNG projects still have to be sanctioned and not guaranteed to come online) and the long awaited Baltic pipeline to take Norwegian gas to Poland. The move is not a big surprise and is completely consistent with all the messages the...

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Blackrock and GIC acquires critical North Sea gas infrastructure

Blackrock and GIC have announced the acquisition of Kellas Midstream from Antin. Antin was expected to launch an auction process for Kellas Midstream at the end of the year and it appears that Blackrock and GIC moved quickly and were able to agree a deal ahead of the formal auction. No sale price was disclosed but believed to be in the range of £1.4-2.0 billion. There will be a number of disappointed parties out there who were lining themselves...

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Is Busta a bust?

Exploration well on the Busta prospect on PL782S has been drilled in 127m of water in the Jotun-Balder area of the Norwegian North Sea. It appears to be a marginal discovery with preliminary resource estimates of 6-60mmboe (vs. pre-drill 50-200mmboe). Two separate gas/condensate and oil-bearing intervals totaling ~25m were encountered -the primary target hitting the reservoir with the secondary target water bearing. Busta is...

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SNE partners buy FPSO

Cairn and FAR have announced a material increase in the capex for the SNE development from USD2.2 billion to USD3.7 billion (plus USD500 million contingency) for Phase 1. This has been driven by the partners' decision to buy an FPSO rather than lease it. This does however bring the opex down, estimated form c.USD14/boe to c.USD11/boe. FID is expected to be taken at the end of 2019 with first oil forecast for late 2022. The development will...

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European gas storage is full

European gas storage is full and Equinor has highlighted three potential catalysts that could provide short term relief for the current super low European gas prices A delay to Nord Stream 2 due to sanctions The lack of a transit agreement with Ukraine A colder than expected winter The Nord Stream 2 project was expected to come onstream on 1 January 2020. However with ongoing concerns that the EU's reliance on Russian gas continues to grow...

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Cameron LNG Commences Commercial Operations For Train 1 Of Liquefaction-Export Project

Cameron LNG to Start Recognizing Revenues from Train 1 Sempra Energy's Share of Full-Year Run-Rate Earnings from the First Three Trains are Projected to be Between $400 Million and $450 Million Annually Press release as follows: Sempra LNG, a Sempra Energy subsidiary, today announced that Cameron LNG's first train of the liquefaction-export project in Hackberry, Loiusiana, has begun commercial operations under Cameron LNG's tolling agreements. "This...

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PNG seeks to renegotiate Papua LNG

The PNG Minister for Petroleum issues the below release on re-opening the Papua LNG terms for negotiation. PRESS RELEASE STATE TEAM HEADING OUT TO RE-NEGOTIATE WITH TOTAL The National Executive Council has authorized a State Negotiating Team (SNT) lead by the Minister for Petroleum, Kerenga Kua, to head off to Singapore to seek to re-negotiate the terms of the Papua LNG Gas Agreement previously signed on 19 April 2019. The SNT left today 15 August for Singapore. The Papua Gas Agreement was signed by the previous O'Neill led Government inside...

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European TTF breaks through historical boundaries

S&P has highlighted in its recent webinar that the European TTF price has historically traded within a range but that recent gas pricing dynamics has seen it break out of this range. TTF has historically been bound by the JKM price as a ceiling (spot LNG price in Asia) and the coal switching price as a floor. In a tight gas market, TTF traded closer to the JKM price to incentivise LNG supplies into Europe In a loose gas market, TTF traded...

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Warwick duster in the West of Shetlands

Hurricane Energy plc, the UK based oil and gas company focused on hydrocarbon resources in naturally fractured basement reservoirs, provides an update in relation to the 205/26b-13Z ("Warwick Deep") well. Following completion of drill stem testing of the Warwick Deep well, the decision has been made to plug and abandon the well. The Warwick Deep well was drilled to a total depth of 1,964m TVDSS and included a 712m horizontal section of fractured...

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Guyana's upcoming drilling

Tullow and its partners have upcoming drilling in Guyana over the summer over two blocks. The blocks are: Orinduik: Tullow (60% operator), Total (25%), Eco Atlantic (15%) Kanuku: Repsol (37.5% operator), Tullow (37.5%), Total (25%) In August, the Stena Forth drill ship will arrive on Orinduik for a two well campaign to drill the Jethro and Joe prospects. In October, Repsol is scheduled to drill the Carapa prospect on Kunuku. Guyana remains...

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Zama resource increase

Talos and Premier Oil have announced the successful appraisal of Zama in Block 7 offshore Mexico under the Zama-3 well. Premier has indicated a P90-P10 resource range of 670-970mmboe with P50 of 810mmboe. This further reaffirms the resource base and provides an upgrade to the previous 600mmbbl (oil) estimate. The Zama-3 well follows: The initial Zama-1 discovery in 2017 Zama-2 appraisal in January 2019 Zama-2ST1 sidetrack well in April 2019 Zama-3...

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Kurdistan steps up efforts to eliminate gas flaring

The Kurdistan Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR") has asked the Shaikan field partners (Gulf Keystone and MOL) to re-submit a revised FDP for the field to address additional MNR requests on gas management. The next well planned on the field will now be used to assess the feasibility of gas reinjection into the Jurassic formation, rather than as an originally planned Jurassic production well. Whilst a key driver to be reservoir management and...

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Dry well in the Barents near Korpfjell

The 7335/3-1 exploration well on Production Licence 859 has drilled a dry well. The partners on the licence are: Equinor 65% operator, Lundin 15%, DNO 20%. The licence lies in the Barents Sea and the 7335/3-1 well is located c.8km southeast of the Korpfjell gas discovery. Both the primary and secondary exploration targets encountered sandy and poor reservoirs. The well was drilled by the West Hercules drilling rig to 4,268m below the sea surface...

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Woodside's Pluto LNG restart delayed

Source: RBC Woodside's restart from its planned Pluto LNG turnaround will be delayed until the end of June after initial restart efforts were unsuccessful. Vibration in the refrigerant compressor has delayed restart. In the interim, Woodside will be purchasing cargoes from the market to fulfill its contractual obligations. However Woodside are making a healthy margin of  c.USD5/mmbtu with the current lull in Asian spot LNG prices due to...

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PGNiG acquires Total's 22.2% stake in King Lear

Total has sold its 22.2% stake in King Lear to PGNiG. This follows AkerBP's acquisition of Equinor's 77.8% stake in the field in October 2018 for USD250 million. In October 2018, AkerBP noted that King Lear is one of the largest undeveloped discoveries in Norway and that it planned to develope the field as a satellite to Ula. Ula is operated by AkerBP (80% with DNO as 20% partner) and the tie-back will improve capacity utilisation at the Ula...

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Hurricane reaches first oil and Lancaster

Hurricane has reached first oil at the Lancaster field. The Aoka Mizu FPSO completed the start-up phase with a 72-hour production test and combined production from the wells reached the targeted 20mbopd, marking the contractual completion of commissioning. Hurricane now expects to ramp up production over the next six months towards the longer-term ~85% operating efficiency target. Production guidance is: c.9mbopd for the next three months; followed...

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Chevron-Anadarko: the overlooked jewel

As Chevron swallows up its USD50 billion acquisition of Anadarko, OGInsights turns its focus away form the heavily covered synergies in the Permian, DJ Basin and Gulf of Mexico, and towards its LNG portfolio as Chevron strives to join the ranks of the supermajors in LNG. Chevron has a Australasia-centric LNG business, but Anadarko's 27% operated interest in Mozambique Area 1 now broadens the former's reach. The Mozambique position is a low...

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Saudi oil optics

The release of the March Official Selling Prices begins to illustrate Saudi Arabia's complex and calculated moves in the global oil markets. After years of trying to figure out the market dynamics of the brave new world with US shale and testing market responses to various signals, it knows that cutting its own production is not the only thing that matters (not to mentioned damaging to its own market share). In fact, targeting data points that...

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Further positive momentum at Zama

The Zama-2ST1 well (side-track well son Zama-2) encountered 873ft of gross oil bearing column with a net-to-gross ratio of c.70%. The well flowed at 7.9mboepd of which 94% was light 26-30 API oil. The well results indicated a prolific reservoir and potential to achieve significant plateau rates at the field. The operator estimates that a peak production of 150-175mboe/d is achievable. This news is positive for the recoverable reserves of the field...

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Energean success at Karish North

Energean has made a significant gas find at its high profile Karish North well. The well reached a depth of 4,880m and encountered a fantastic hydrocarbon column of c.250m Management guidance of the estimated Gas-in-Place is 1-1.5tcf of which ~875bcf could be recoverable resource (i.e. close to 60% recovery factor). Further evaluation will now be undertaken to determine the liquids content on the discovery.  The A, B and C sands have been...

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Mediocre week for UK exploration

This week saw a disappointing well result in Rowallan and a mediocre result in Verbier. Rowallan The keenly watched wildcat drilled at the Rowallan prospect "was not found to be hydrocarbon-bearing”. The 22/19c-7 well was targeting 143mmbbl in a structural fault and dip-closed trap analogous to Total’s Culzean field 20km away. The well encountered a 182m section of sandstone and shale after being drilled to a depth of 4,641m . The Dundonald...

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First step in reversion of LNG pricing structures

LNG has historically been priced to an oil price marker. This is because until recently, LNG has been a point-to-point business - LNG was produced in one country and shipped under a 20-30 year contract to a single destination and the LNG tanker would shuffle back-and-forth between the two end points. This underpinned the project financing for construction of liquefaction projects. LNG prices were then linked to oil as both the LNG producing nations...

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Maria, you've gotta see her!

Wintershall has shut-in the Maria field since February, approximately a year after first production, following poor production performance. It is understood that reserves have been downgraded from 207mmbbl to c.60 mmbbl. The field is now undergoing testing and monitoring to see how best to produce the remaining reserves the recover the lost reserves whilst managing the reservoir. It is understood that the NPD has to review plans and sign off...

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Waha gas pricing goes negative

Chart of the week: Waha hub gas pricing goes negat...

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Azinor Catalyst portfolio

Azinor has an exciting Central North Sea portfolio which is situated close to existing fields and could act as low cost tie-backs to existing infrastructure. ...

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Energean targets Karish North

Energean is in the middle of drilling the Karish North prospect with results expected at the end of April 2019. The prospect is located c.5.4km from the Karish FPSO and is targeting 1.4tcfe. Assuming success and a discovery, Energean believes it would convert into 0.4bcm/y. The FPSO is designed to handle 8bcm/y and Energean has so far secured 4.2bcm/y of offtake. It is expecting to finalise another 1.1bcm/y shortly, bringing contracted volumes...

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Leveraging off Leverett

As part of the 30th Licensing Round, Zennor picked up Blocks 21/2d, 21/3c-d in licence P2350. The licence contains the Leverett discovery which was appraised by CNOOCNexen. The discovery has had four wells and may or may not require further appraisal prior to development. The field could be tied back to Zennor's Finlaggan field and extend the plateau. Leverett has been penetrated by: 21/2-2 - drilled in 1975 with the West Venture rig 21/2-4...

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CNOOC to drill in the West of Shetlands

CNOOC has contracted the Island Innovator rig from Island Drilling Company for the drilling of the Howick prospect in Block 206/21 in the West of Shetlands. CNOOC is 100% operator of the block CNOOC also has Cragganmore discovery in Block 208/17A which is planned to be further appraised, potentially in 2019. CNOOC is operator of Cragganmore with 70% interest; INEOS is a 30% partner. ...

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Understanding Mozambique's fiscal regime (Part I)

Government take across countries in East Africa are generally below the Sub Saharan Africa average of 62%. This reflects the relative infancy of the E&P industry in the region with high exploration risk and uncertainties on the path to commericialising discovered resources. A lower fiscal take is required to attract investment. Mozambique’s government take lies in the middle of its East African neighbours - lower than Uganda where significant...

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Gran Tierra's Grand Tour (into Ecuador)

Gran Tierra has won three blocks in Ecuador covering c.140,000 acres in the highly prospective Oriente-Putumayo Basin: Charapa, Chanangue and Iguana. The blocks are contiguous with Gran Tierra’s Putumayo position in Colombia and allows the company to extend its Colombian success on the trend across the border. Gran Tierra will have 100% interest and operatorship on each block in exchange for a 14 well, four year work programme – management...

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