Oleg Vukmanovic News

The Panama Canal will boost liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker traffic along the waterway from October in a boon to U.S. East Coast LNG producers chasing profits from sales to Asia.As demand for LNG transit grows, the Panama Canal will grant night passage, and scrap its single-file rule to enable passage in opposing directions at the waterway's north end."By lifting these restrictions on October 1, the Canal will unleash even more capacity for LNG," Silvia de Marucci, Executive Manager…

A landmark Russian Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment has begun its journey through the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to Asia, marking the delayed start of summer navigation as thawing sea ice clears a short-cut to the world's biggest LNG market. The $27 billion Yamal LNG plant developed by Russia's Novatek and France's Total despite U.S. sanctions started exporting in December, but cargoes ferried on ice-class LNG tankers have sailed to Europe. From there, Yamal's LNG was transferred on to standard tankers for onward shipment to Asia via the Suez Canal or else sold and used in Europe at a time when the NSR was shut. Yamal's Vladimir Rusanov tanker marks the plant's first shipment through the NSR, shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon shows.

Commodity trader Trafigura on Tuesday said it agreed to buy 0.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually over three years from the Freeport LNG export plant in the United States.   Deliveries from Freeport LNG Marketing will begin in 2020 from its facility on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas, Trafigura said.   The deal builds on Trafigura's 15-year, 1 million tonne per annum agreement with Cheniere Energy for supply from its Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana, which was announced in January.   Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic

Shipments from Russia's Arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant picked up from late last week after maintenance and unseasonably thick sea ice impeded exports this month. The Boris Vilkitski LNG tanker left the area of the Yamal plant on Friday for France's Montoir terminal after spending more than a week idling fully-laden offshore. The Christophe de Margerie tanker, which had spent more than a week circling north of Yamal above the entrance to Ob Bay, went in over the weekend and appears to have loaded, according to ship-tracking data. It is now leaving the area. Last week, thick sea ice paralysed marine traffic in Ob Bay, Russia's state-run nuclear-powered tanker firm Roastomflot said.

Thick sea ice is impeding Arctic shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's newly-built export plant in Yamal, Russia's state-run nuclear-powered tanker company Rosatomflot said.Unseasonably severe ice conditions are also clogging routes to Asia through the Northern Sea Route (NSR), leading to the extension of the winter-spring navigation of Atomflot's nuclear ice-breakers, it said.The Novatek-operated LNG facility's fleet of LNG ice-breaking tankers aim to deliver gas to Northeast Asia along the NSR in summertime when ice sheets thin.In winter…

Panama has imported its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to commission the newly built $1 billion Costa Norte facility and power plant at Colon, expected to be a launch-pad for LNG trade across Central America.Many utilities in Central America and the Caribbean remain reliant on burning oil to generate electricity, but LNG offers a cleaner, cheaper and more efficient alternative.Shipping data shows the Engie-chartered Provalys tanker arrived last week, carrying a cargo exported from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana in March.AES Panama, a unit of U.S.

Feedgas supplies into Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Louisiana fell again after recovering briefly following a month-long maintenance shutdown affecting one of three production units, data showed on Tuesday.Input levels on the three pipelines serving the facility showed feed levels had fallen to 2,180 million cubic feet/day (mcf/day) on Tuesday after a fall and briefly recovering to a high of 2,860 mcf/day on Saturday.Current inflow levels suggest that the expected restart of the plant's third liquefaction train, or unit, had suffered a setback.Chenie

Portugal is seeking to expand its deep-water port of Sines to handle greater liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from the United States and elsewhere to offset Europe's shrinking domestic output, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday.Costa, who spoke at a conference on Portugal-U.S. ties, said the port of Sines, which already has an LNG terminal, could be expanded into a larger hub capable of receiving LNG transhipments, with regasification and underground storage facilities and pipeline connections to the rest of Europe.Portugal and Spain…

The trading arm of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) struck a three-year lease for a bigger floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) from Hoegh LNG as it seeks to boost imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).In a statement, shipowner Hoegh LNG said its Esperanza FSRU was contracted to CNOOC Gas & Power Trading and Marketing.The floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal will be based in Tianjin as a replacement for Hoegh's GDF Suez Cape Anne FSRU, recently redeployed from China to India.The Esperanza is larger…

Angola's sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) project is stepping up exports of cargoes in the spot market ahead of maintenance, three industry sources said on Tuesday.The plant has issued several tenders in the spot market for LNG cargoes to load in May and June, the sources said.Angola's Soyo plant, which has a capacity of 5.2 million tonnes of LNG per year, will be undergoing a planned shutdown for maintenance in July, with production expected to resume in early August, a company spokeswoman said.The spokeswoman declined to comment on the plant's recent rise in exports…

Chevron will idle the second production unit at its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in May to carry out modifications already implemented at the other two units, a senior executive said.Pat Yarrington, Chevron's vice president and chief financial officer, said in an earnings call on Friday that Gorgon Train 2 in Australia has a planned "pit stop" in May for crews to replicate performance improvement modifications.Traders said the maintenance is expected to last 30 days.The work will focus on remedying vibration problems already fixed on Trains 1 and 3, they said.A company spokesman declined to comment on the maintenance duration or the issues being addressed.Meanwhile…

The first contractual liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Dominion Energy Inc's newly constructed Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland in the United States left the facility on Monday, Thomson Reuters Eikon ship tracking data showed. The cargo is expected to act as a drag on spot LNG prices <LNG-AS> as it coincides with the resumption of exports of the fuel from the Papua New Guinea LNG plant, which had been shut following a powerful earthquake. The 160,000-cubic metre LNG tanker Adam LNG left Cove Point on Monday with a draft of 91 percent, suggesting it was full, according to the data. Its destination was not immediately clear. The facility has exported two commissioning or test cargoes already, which were sold to Royal Dutch Shell.

The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo exported from a new plant in the United States at Cove Point will arrive in Britain later this month as Asian spot LNG prices weaken relative to European benchmarks. The Gemmata tanker is expected to arrive at the UK's Dragon terminal on March 20, according to the local port authority at Milford Haven. As Asian spot LNG prices weakened, the tanker performed a U-turn in the middle of the Atlantic this week away from Asia and towards Europe, shipping data shows. Royal Dutch Shell is responsible for shipping test cargoes from the newly built plant in Maryland. Cove Point is the second biggest LNG export terminal in the lower 48 U.S. states after Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, which exported its first cargo in February 2016.

Golar LNG said on Monday it had started production at its floating LNG (FLNG) platform in Cameroon, the world's second working example of the nascent technology and a milestone likely to boost its Fortuna project in Equatorial Guinea. As the cost of land-based LNG plants more than tripled in the decade to 2013, Golar pioneered the conversion of ageing LNG tankers into giant refrigerators capable of chilling gas into its liquid form at minus 162 Celsius. Natural gas when liquefied can be shipped and sold around the world on tankers, like oil. By starting up the pilot floating plant in Cameroon, Golar is removing uncertainty about the risks associated with squeezing equipment into a fraction of the space occupied by an LNG plant on land, shipping analysts and industry sources say.

Argentina's state-run Enarsa launches tender to buy 22 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for delivery from May to August for delivery to its two import terminals, trade sources said. Enarsa seeks nine full-size cargoes for its Bahia Blanca terminal and 13 half-size deliveries to its river terminal at Escobar. Bids must be submitted on or before March 6 and pricing must be based on either U.S. Henry Hub or Brent crude oil. Escobar shipments cannot take tankers with a capacity of more than 90,000 cubic metres of LNG due to shallow water conditions.

Electricite de France (EDF) has offered up to three billion cubic metres of annual regasification capacity at the Dunkirk liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal for 18 years from Jan. 1, 2019, it said in a market notice. The terminal's remaining 10 bcm/year capacity has already been booked by shippers, EDF said. Long-term capacity is offered on a ship-or-pay basis. Subscribers will acquire firm rights to slots, LNG storage and send-out capacity, as well as the ability to re-load imported LNG for onward export.

Norwegian shipping company Golar LNG Partners will deploy a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to Jamaica for up to 15 years from the fourth quarter of 2018, according to industry sources. An FSRU allows for the import of liquefied natural gas. On Jan. 19 the company said in a statement it executed a 15-year charter for an FSRU with a energy and logistics company in the Atlantic Basin, without giving further details. Sources said Golar LNG Partners entered into the deal with U.S.-based New Fortress Energy, which has supplied Jamaica's power utility JPS with LNG since October 2016, using one of Golar's LNG tankers. In its Jan. 19 statement, Golar said it can nominate either the Golar Spirit or the Golar Freeze FSRU provided they meet the project's technical requirements.

Gail India launches tender to sell 24 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from the Cove Point export facility in the United States in 2019-2020, according to trade sources. The tender is split into three tranches, with the first tranche offering six cargoes in the first half of 2019, six in H2 2019, and 12 in 2020, traders said . Prospective buyers must bid for all the cargoes in any given tranche. Gail purchased 2.3 million tonnes annually from Dominion Energy's Cove Point export plant, with an added 3.5 million tonnes annually due from Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana. Gail has already struck various swap and sales deals with Royal Dutch Shell and trader Gunvor, among others, to reduce its near-term supply obligations from Sabine Pass.

Production at Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Louisiana is running well below capacity, resulting in disruption to cargo loadings, trade sources said. Feed gas supply into the liquefaction plant plunged sharply during the weekend, data on the Thomson Reuters Eikon terminal showed. Flows fell to 630 million cubic feet/day on Jan. 19 from 3.2 billion cubic feet/day on Jan. 15. Freezing weather may have disrupted water supply to Sabine Pass, market sources said.

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker probably carrying some supply from a Russian export project has been diverted from the United States, ship-tracking data shows. Engie's Gaselys LNG tanker was diverted on Friday from the Everett terminal in Boston, Massachusetts, where gas prices have tapered off since spiking during a cold snap. The vessel picked up the cargo from storage tanks at Britain's Isle of Grain import terminal in early January. The delivery to the United States was unusual because the LNG at Isle of Grain's tanks also contained some supply from Russia's new Yamal export plant. Yamal's main shareholder Novatek was targeted by U.S. sanctions due to Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.

State-run Qatargas on Wednesday agreed a sale and purchase deal with Austrian oil and gas group OMV to deliver up to 1.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually for five years. From January 2019, the gas will be provided by Qatar Liquefied Gas Co, a venture between Qatar Petroleum and Shell . It will be delivered to the Gate LNG Terminal in the Netherlands on board Qatargas’ chartered LNG vessels. Facing threats to its market share in Europe from a wave of new U.S. supply and in Asia from new Australian plants, Qatar has sealed similar deals with Uniper, RWE Supply and Trading, Centrica and Petronas UK to secure access to northwest European import terminals.

Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices jumped this week in reaction to volatile price spikes on European gas markets and ongoing demand from the region's major consumers. Spot prices for January delivery hit $10.50 per mmBtu, 40 cents above last week, with February prices seeing similar levels. In a tumultuous week, European gas prices gyrated wildly following a flurry of major pipeline and production outages coinciding with high demand and freezing weather. The rally began…

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Cheniere Energy has expanded its shipping fleet with a flurry of spot vessel charters to keep up with Asian winter demand growth as spot prices hit three-year highs, market sources said. Cheniere's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana pumped out 22 cargoes last month and more are expected as it ramps up its fourth production unit, or train, with more than half of all November volumes sold to China, Japan or South Korea, according to ship-tracking data.