European gas prices hit decade highs

 NBP is at 75p/therm (~33% increase YTD)TTF is at €30.4/MWh (~65% increase YTD)Despite the sharp rise in European gas prices and arbitrage opportunity for US LNG into Europe, LNG cargoes are being pulled to Asia where prices remain elevated and fetching premiu...

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TOTAL delivers its first carbon neutral LNG cargo

TOTAL has delivered its first shipment of carbon neutral liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The loading operation was carried out at the Ichthys liquefaction plant in Australia, and the shipment was delivered on September 29 to the Dapeng terminal, China.“We are proud to have completed this first shipment of carbon neutral LNG with CNOOC, a long-standing partner of TOTAL. This first LNG shipment,...

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Anadarko signs SPAs for Mozambique LNG

Anadarko has signed three gas Sale and Purchase Agreements (“SPAs”) with Tokyo Gas/Centrica (2.6mtpa), Shell (2mtpa) and CNOOC (1.5mtpa) for its Mozambique LNG Area 1 development. This total 6.1mtpa of the planned 12.88mtpa ahead of FID expected in mid-2019. The LNG development will challenge upcoming projects given its fortunate location in between the Asian and European markets and will compete with Australian, Middle Eastern and North American...

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Valeura: Turkey's new gas supplier

Valeura continues to make good progress in Turkey where the company announced a technical success at the Inanli-1 well in November. The well continues to be tested into 2019. Turkey is structurally short gas, importing gas by pipeline and LNG - LNG regasification capacity is 12bcm/year with cargoes from Algeria, Nigeria and the Middle East. Domestic gas production is therefore long awaited and with Valeura owning the local pipeline network around its licence areas, it is in a good position to start supplying the grid once it is in a position to...

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Sponsor completion guarantees in LNG construction financing: Part II

As the world of North American LNG financings continue to evolve, OGInsights explores the use of completion guarantees in construction financings. In Part II of this two part series, we look at the conditions precedent to project completion which typically need to be satisfied for release of the completion guarantee by lenders. Construction criteria requires "substantial completion" under the EPC Contract. In addition, operational tests must...

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Sponsor completion guarantees in LNG construction financing: Part I

As the world of North American LNG financings continue to evolve, OGInsights explores the use of completion guarantees in construction financings. At a high level, the project sponsor guarantees debt service under a guarantee until the construction is complete. To the extent that a project does not reach completion (normally by a certain long-stop date), then the sponsor will be obliged to repay all of the debt under the guarantee. The provision...

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Petronas enables Cheniere Sabine Pass Train 6

Petronas has agreed to enter into a 1.1mtpa offtake deal with Cheniere on Sabine Pass Train 6 which should enable the train take FID shortly. With a foundation buyer now in place, Cheniere can continue with raising finance to progress the 4.5mtpa project. Under the deal, Petronas has signed up to 1.1mtpa on a FOB basis for 20 years. As common with east coast LNG contracts, the pricing will be indexed to the monthly Henry Hub price, plus a...

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PGNiG shuns Russian gas

PGNiG is increasingly boldening its signals on shunning Russian gas as it turns to the west. The Polish state has historically been dependent on gas imports from its eastern neighbour but is looking to loosen its reliance to the communist state. Poland consumes around 17 bcm of gas annually, more than half of which comes from Gazprom under a long-term contract that expires in 2022. It is seeing the upcoming expiry as the opportunity to diversify...

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Karish and Tanin to supply Cyprus

Energean announced earlier this month that it is seeking approval to build a pipeline from its Karish and Tanin fields to the shores of Cyprus from the Cypriot government. The company has already contracted 4.2bcm p.a. from its fields with Israeli buyers and is progressing with further gas supply contracts. The Karish and Tanin project has already been sanctioned, so further supply contracts are not necessary for FID but will strengthen the commercialisation...

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Anadarko close to Mozambique Area 1 FID and raising USD12 billion debt financing

On 26th April, Anadarko had "in principle" secured sufficient offtake to enable FID of the first phase of Mozambique LNG on Area 1 offshore Mozambique. The huge resource of 75 tcf is planned to be initially developed via two trains with capacity of 12.88 mtpa. In time, this could eventually be expanded to eight trains producing 50 mtpa. Since the announcement, Anadarko has also made clear that it expects to debt finance ~USD12 billion of the...

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