Gas Producer News

Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate - a type of light oil - into light and heavy naphtha, kerosene and diesel to be shipped by sea.It was not clear how long the disruption would last…

Inspections of Norway's offshore gas pipelines after the Nord Stream blasts found nothing suspicious, an executive at energy major Equinor told Reuters, in the first official word on the security sweep.However, risks remain after last year's still-unexplained explosions at the Nord Stream pipelines built to carry Russian gas to Germany via the Baltic Sea, warned Jannicke Nilsson, who manages security for Equinor.Europe's largest gas supplier after a drop in Russian flows last year, Equinor also acts as technical service provider for offshore pipelines operator Gassco.

PetroChina International has taken delivery of a large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier from China's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group Ltd, the first of three tankers ordered under a joint venture with state shipping firms.The vessel Shaolin, named after the renowned Chinese kungfu style, is designed to carry 174,000 cubic meters of the super-chilled fuel, PetroChina International said on its WeChat platform on Wednesday.The carrier is one of three vessels ordered in 2020 costing a total of $600 million by a joint venture between PetroChina International…

ConocoPhillips said on Thursday it would take a 30% equity stake in Sempra Energy's Port Arthur liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Texas, as the U.S. oil and gas producer expands its LNG business to meet soaring demand.Western sanctions on Russian fuel has choked an already undersupplied market and sent buyers scrambling for the heating fuel.

The United States, the world's top natural gas producer, wants to send more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe to help its allies break their dependence on Russian gas after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.But U.S. exports are limited by the country's liquefaction capacity and an ongoing outage at Freeport LNG's plant after the second-biggest U.S. LNG export facility was hit by fire in June.Russia, once Europe's biggest gas supplier, has already cut exports for various reasons this year…

Europe's race to replace Russian gas supply has threatened Australia's plans for five gas import terminals as they compete for key infrastructure, raising the risk of a supply shortfall in Australia's populous southeast in the next two years.France, Germany, and the Netherlands among others will need to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace pipelined gas from Russia, which has been hit by sanctions during the Ukraine conflict.European users are grabbing floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) needed to convert LNG to gas…

Woodside Energy Group, Australia's top independent natural gas producer, sees liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices staying high for a few years as the market adjusts to supply disruptions after sanctions on Russia for its Ukraine invasion."With the invasion, we are seeing the world try to move away from Russian hydrocarbons and that means that demand for LNG from places like Australia is up," Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill said."We do expect ... prices to remain elevated for the next year…

Amplify Energy Corp withdrew its full-year forecast on Monday, saying that a large oil spill from one of its subsea pipelines in southern California last month forced it to shut its operations in the region.In mid-October, the U.S. Coast Guard said about 588 barrels (25,000 gallons) of crude oil was spilt, about a fifth as much as it initially estimated, from a pipeline connected to an offshore facility owned by Amplify's unit.The oil and gas producer said on Monday that it was under multiple investigations by state and federal authorities over the incident…

Energy companies worked to restore pipeline service and electricity after Tropical Storm Nicholas passed through on Tuesday, allowing them to return to repairing the significant damage caused by Hurricane Ida two weeks ago.Nicholas, downgraded to a tropical depression late Tuesday, caused rain, flooding, and power outages in Texas and Louisiana, where some refineries remained offline in the wake of Hurricane Ida. The earlier storm shuttered most U.S. Gulf offshore oil and gas production.Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S.

Hurricane Nicholas on Tuesday took another swipe at U.S. Gulf Coast energy facilities, cutting offshore oil and gas output gradually recovering from the last storm and disrupting power to onshore pipeline, gas and chemical plants.Royal Dutch Shell halted production its Perdido offshore oil platform due to heavy winds, and U.S. liquefied natural gas producer Freeport LNG said processing at its Texas coast facility was halted, likely due to a power outage.Power losses briefly cut Colonial Pipeline's main gasoline and diesel lines out of Houston…

Metals miner Nornickel said it will participate in the design and building of Russia's first dual-fuel liquefied natural gas (LNG) and diesel icebreaker to prepare for more capacity in the environmentally sensitive Arctic region.Russia, which has a fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, has long considered LNG-powered icebreaking ships to develop the Northeast Sea Route into an international shipping lane from Arctic waters.Nornickel, the world's largest palladium and nickel producer…

Russian liquefied natural gas producer (LNG) Sakhalin Energy said on Wednesday post-shutdown commissioning was continuing at the second LNG train at its Prigorodnoye production complex.Comprehensive maintenance work, which began on July 9, had been initially due to last around 37 days, meaning the stoppages had been expected to finish by around this week. Sakhalin Energy said the first LNG train had restarted and the Amur River LNG carrier had departed with a first LNG cargo.It was not immediately clear when the second LNG train would be back online fully…

Russia plans to build its first batch of icebreakers that are powered by liquified natural gas, a top official said on Friday, returning to an idea that was put on hold.Russia has the world's only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. It is building up that fleet, hoping to develop the Northern Sea Route across its northern flank into an international shipping lane as climate change melts the ice."We are now returning to this topic (building LNG-powered icebreakers). I think that by the end of the year we will decide on the possible construction of two to four medium-sized icebreakers…

Malaysian oil company Petronas and China-based oil firm CNOOC, have signed a memorandum of understanding to "pursue mutual growth through closer collaboration.""The MoU elevates the long-standing relationship between the two parties from primarily liquefied natural gas (LNG) and upstream projects towards a shared ambition in energy security and cleaner energy solutions," Petronas said.The parties will "intensify" collaboration in LNG, upstream exploration & development projects…

Baker Hughes Co and AXA Group and 16 other companies recently quit work on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and will not be sanctioned, according to a document the Biden administration sent to Congress last week which was seen by Reuters.Russian energy company Gazprom and its western partners are racing to build the pipeline to take Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, and hope to finish it this year. President Joe Biden believes the pipeline is a “bad deal” for Europe.Many U.S. lawmakers and officials say the pipeline would increase Russia’s political and economic leverage over Europe. The $11 billion pipeline, which would double the capacity of its existing duct, would bypass Ukraine through which Russia has sent gas to Europe for decades.

Cheniere Energy Inc, the top U.S. liquefied natural gas producer, on Wednesday raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast, predicting higher demand for the fuel as COVID-19 vaccinations boost economic recovery.Lockdown measures implemented to curb the pandemic slashed demand for energy and hurt prices for natural gas in 2020. But with economic recovery in Asia, particularly in China, fuel sales have picked up.Shares rose 1% to $70.37 in midday trading, a more than two-year…

Russian gas producer Novatek said Wednesday it had completed Russia’s first ship-to-ship LNG transshipment in the Kildin Strait of the Barents Sea.The Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker “Nikolay Yevgenov” reloaded an LNG cargo delivered from the Yamal LNG facility at Sabetta to the conventional tanker “Yamal Spirit”.The ship-to-ship transfer was conducted at a temporary LNG Offshore Transshipment Complex in the Murmansk region within the seaport of Murmansk. "The LNG Transshipment Complex will ensure uninterrupted year-round LNG transshipment from the ice-class tankers carrying LNG produced in the Russian Arctic to conventional LNG tankers,"…

Russian gas producer Novatek has started ship-to-ship loadings of liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG project near the northern port of Murmansk, shifting away from Norway, ship tracking data at Refinitiv Eikon showed on Monday.The company previously conducted such operations at a terminal at the Norwegian Arctic port of Honningsvag. However, Oslo has faced pressure from the United States to stop Novatek from using a Norwegian port, with Washington arguing that such operations…

Russian oil and gas company Novatek has said it has shipped the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) from its Yamal LNG project to Japan transported eastbound via the Northern Sea Route.The LNG cargo was delivered by the 299 meters long ice-breaking LNG tanker “Vladimir Rusanov” under a spot contract and unloaded at the Ohgishima LNG Terminal in Japan.Novatek, the largest independent natural gas producer in Russia, said that this LNG cargo was its first successful experience of entering and unloading an Arc 7 ice-class LNG tanker in a Japanese port, which allows the company to increase the volume of LNG supplies to Japan.“We focus a significant amount of attention to develop and enhance the logistical scheme for our LNG projects,” noted Lev Feodosyev, NOVATEK’s First Deputy Chairma

Norwegian oil company Equinor has successfully sent a drone carrying a 3D-printed cargo from shore to an offshore production platform in the North Sea in what the company says is a world's first.In a flight spanning around 80 kilometers from the Mongstad base onshore to the Troll field in the North Sea offshore Norway, the drone carried a 3D-printed part for the lifeboat system. The flight took one hour, at an altitude of approx. 5000 feet, or 1524 meters."The flight was a test…

Russia's Gazprom Neft has sold its first ever Arctic oil cargo to China to ChemChina, two sources familiar with the deal told Reuters on Thursday.This week, Gazprom Neft said it had sent 144,000 tonnes of light Novy Port oil grade to the Chinese port of Yantai on the Bohai Sea from Russia's north-western city of Murmansk, using the Northern Sea Route (NSR) through Russia's Arctic waters.The Delta Hellas vessel used part of the NSR, a route requiring icebreakers and ice-class tankers, Refinitiv Eikon data showed, sailing west from Murmansk to reach Suez and then China.Gazprom Neft said this week the delivery took 47 days, without providing the buyer's name.Gazprom Neft and ChemChina did not reply to Reuters requests for a comment.The company regularly supplies ESPO Blend crude oil to China

The first vessel to deliver a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Russia's Yamal plant via the Northern Sea Route this year is on its way to China, ship-tracking data showed and analysts said.The direct route to Asia, shorter than the westward journey via Europe, is frozen for much of the year, but is being used increasingly as climate change means it is free of ice for longer.This year's opening is more than a month earlier compared to 2019, when first vessel to go via the route left Yamal LNG on June 29.The Christophe de Margerie vessel, an Arc7-classed LNG tanker, left the Sabbeta port in Russia's Arctic on May 18 and is expected at China National Petroleum Corp' (CNPC) Tangshan LNG terminal on June 11…

French engineering firm GTT announced Thursday it has signed a Technical Assistance and License Agreement (TALA) with the Russian shipyard Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex for the construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers using GTT membrane tank solutions.Zvezda obtained its GTT license after a qualification process that began in September 2017, including the construction of a Mark III technology mock-up.The TALA will allow Zvezda to build ARC7 icebreaking LNG carriers fitted with the GTT membrane storage system.