Gas Importer News

Thailand's largest energy company, state-controlled PTT, is in advanced talks with Qatar for a 15-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deal, four trading sources told Reuters.The oil and gas conglomerate is negotiating a supply of 1 or 2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), according to different figures cited by the sources, in what would be the latest in a spate of deals by Asian buyers to lock in long term supplies.A fifth industry source said that both companies are in "serious negotiations"…

India, grappling with its worst power crisis in five years, has asked Qatar to expedite delivery of 58 delayed liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, two sources familiar with the matter said.Asia's third largest economy is suffering its worst power shortage since March 2016 due to a crippling coal shortage amid high global energy prices.Infrastructure maintenance at supplier Qatargas prevented it from delivering 50 LNG cargoes to India this year, the sources said, prompting India's…

At least five fully-laden liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are idling offshore India, as yet unable to discharge their cargoes, after importers there declared force majeure earlier this week, according to an analyst and shipping sources.Gas demand is falling globally amid the fast-spreading coronavirus which has capped industrial output, forcing LNG tankers in several regions to remain at sea fully laden with no immediate destination, the sources said.At least three major buyers in India…

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer Novatek signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation with India’s largest liquefied natural gas importer Petronet LNG.The MoU envisages delivering LNG supplies from Novatek's portfolio to the Indian market, including natural gas supplies for power generation, as well as investment by Petronet LNG in Novatek's future LNG projects and the joint marketing of LNG as motor fuel in India, including joint investment in developing a network of filling stations and a fleet of LNG-fueled trucks.“India’s rapid economic growth requires increasing demand for all sources of energy and, primarily, for natural gas as the most environmentally friendly type of fuel.

According to the preliminary estimate, the consumption of natural gas in China exceeded 27 million cubic meters in 2018, registering a YOY increase of more than 10%, said a report.The growing Chinese economy and stricter environmental protection policies drive the growth of natural gas consumption in China. In 2018, the Chinese government introduced several environmental protection policies to further prevent and control atmospheric pollution and replace coal with natural gas in key areas, which pushed up natural gas consumption in China.The market survey by ResearchAndMarkets shows that in 2018, the consumption of natural gas for power generation…

Russian gas giant Gazprom will start supplying Russian natural gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline almost one month early than previously planned.Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee, said after the negotiations with representatives of Chinese partner CNPC in Beijing, “Construction of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline is going ahead of schedule, and Gazprom will start delivering gas to China well in advance, as early as December 1, 2019.”Alexey Miller and Wang Yilin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CNPC reviewed a wide range of issues related to cooperation between the companies, focusing on the ongoing…

U.S. oil giant Anadarko Petroleum said it has signed a deal with one of China’s biggest importers to supply 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year from Mozambique for a period of 13 years.The contract, signed by Anadarko and China’s GNOOC Gas and Power Singapore Trading & Marketing, gives China’s biggest liquefied natural gas importer access to world-class gas resources from Mozambique LNG, Mitch Ingram, executive vice president of Anadarko’s International, Deepwater and Exploration division, said."Mozambique LNG is extremely pleased to have CNOOC onboard as one of our foundation customers," added Ingram. "This agreement adds to our growing list of customers in the Asia-Pacific region…

China's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in December soared 25 percent from the same period a year earlier to a monthly record of 6.29 million tonnes, customs data showed on Wednesday.The previous record of 5.99 million tonnes was set in November.For the whole of 2018, imports grew 41 percent from 2017 to a record 53.78 million tonnes, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs. That saw China retain its position as the world's second-buyer buyer of the super-chilled fuel after Japan…

As many as 20 LNG tankers floating in Asian waters; most off Singapore. The last time tankers used for storage was in 2014.Tankers storing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asian waters have more than doubled in number since late October as traders have been caught off guard by warmer-than-expected temperatures that have capped demand and pulled down prices.Spot market demand ahead of winter has been slowed by the forecasts for warmer temperatures this year in North Asia, with onshore storage tanks filling up."People were expecting China to buy as much as last year in the spot market…

China has overtaken Japan to become the world's top importer of natural gas, as Beijing's crackdown on pollution boosts its demand for the more environmentally friendly fuel, while the restart of nuclear reactors in Japan reduces its LNG imports.China's total natural gas imports over January to October this year via pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG) were at 72.06 million tonnes, up a third from the same period last year, according to Reuters calculations based on General Administration of Customs data.Japan…

The following table lists liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes set to be loaded on tankers for onward export.Spain is Europe's most diversified gas importer and has the continent's biggest LNG import capacity spread across its six terminals, sourcing LNG from Qatar, Nigeria, Trinidad, Algeria and other producers.Imported cargoes are stored in tanks located at terminals, where the LNG can either be regasified and pumped into the local grid or loaded on to new tankers for export.PortLoading window dateVolume (in cubic meters)TankerBBGJuly 11-1395,000UnknownBarcelonaJuly 13-15159,000UnknownBarcelo

Pollution fight drives surge in pipeline, LNG imports but Japan remains world's biggest importer of LNG. Beijing's crackdown on pollution has put China on track to overtake Japan this year as the world's biggest importer of natural gas, used to replace dirtier coal. China - already the biggest importer of oil and coal - is the world's third biggest user of natural gas behind the United States and Russia, but has to import around 40 percent of its total needs as domestic production can't keep up with demand. Data compiled from the Thomson Reuters Eikon terminal indicates China's 2017 imports of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) will top 67 million tonnes, up by more than a quarter from a year earlier. LNG imports alone surged more than 50 percent.

India's biggest importer of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) is trying to re-negotiate prices with the U.S. seller, sources said, undermining plans by U.S. President Donald Trump to export more gas to the fast-growing Asian nation. At a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House this week, Trump said the United States looked forward to exporting more energy, including new major long-term contracts to purchase American natural gas. The effort is part of Trump's policy of seeking to assert power abroad through a boost in natural gas, coal and petroleum exports. He said on Thursday that the "golden era" of the U.S. energy business was now underway.

South Korean utilities jointly bought a total of 1.5 million tonnes of coal from the United States to arrive from the third quarter, a spokesman at one of the utilities said on Tuesday. The purchase comes as South Korea, the world's fourth-largest coal importer, encourages energy companies and utilities to seek U.S. energy resources under pro-fossil fuel Trump administration in an effort to diversify supply sources. Korea Midland Power Co Ltd (KOMIPO) signed the deal to buy the U.S.-origin coal products on behalf of the five utilities, its spokesman said. The other four utilities are Korea Southern Power Co Ltd (KOSPO), Korea East West Power Co (EWP), Korea Western Power Co Ltd (WP) and Korea South East Co Ltd (KOEN). Korean utilities typically buy coal from Australia and Indonesia.

Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices rose this week on the back of rallying gas benchmarks in Europe and a production outage in Angola. The price of LNG for December delivery was $7.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), up around 25 cents from a week earlier, buoyed by gains in British month-ahead gas prices. UK December gas rose as much as 10 percent this week. Further LNG spot gains may be capped as prices close the gap with long-term, oil-indexed LNG contract levels and with new supply emerging from U.S. and Australian liquefaction projects, analysts and trade sources say. LNG importers arbitrage between buying shipments on spot markets or through their long-term contracts which tend to act as a ceiling on spot prices.

Egypt launched the world's biggest tender for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as officials from top energy companies and trading houses converged on Cairo undeterred by new rules that could force them to wait for as long as six months to get paid. After months of speculation and delay, state-run Egypt Natural Gas Holding (EGAS) released tender documents on Sunday bidding to secure 96 LNG shipments in 2017 and 2018, participants in the tender told Reuters. An additional 12 optional cargoes were included in the tender, which EGAS may decide not to award, they said. At a price-tag of several billion dollars, it is the biggest mid-term LNG buy tender ever issued, trade sources said.

Finnish natural gas importer Gasum and Dutch gas tanker ship-owner Anthony Veder have signed an agreement for a long term time charter of a new ICE Class 1A Super LNG carrier. The companies have agreed on a long term timecharter for a state of the art 18,000 cbm LNG carrier. The vessel will be built at German shipyard Neptun Werft and delivered at the last quarter of 2017. The new ICE Class 1A Super LNG carrier will be built at German shipyard Neptun Werft, which is a subsidiary of the Meyer Neptun Group and delivered in the last quarter of 2017. The vessel's specific purpose is to bring LNG to two LNG terminals which are currently being constructed, at Tahkoluoto in Pori (completed in 2016) and Röyttä in Tornio, Finland (completed in 2018).

There are many different views on the future of energy supplies, but strong agreement in two areas; over the next 25 years or so population growth and GDP growth in the developing economies, particularly China and India, will drive global energy demand to increase by some 50% and second; while oil’s share of the energy mix will decline, the largest growth will be in consumption of natural gas. Why? Natural gas is an outstanding fuel for power generation, gas-fired power plant has the lowest Capex…

According to a September 6 report from The Wall Street Journal, the Asian Development Bank plans to offload its stake in Petronet LNG Ltd., valued at $95.6m, India's Oil Secretary said. Asian Development Bank holds a 5.2% stake in Petronet, India's largest liquefied natural gas importer by volume. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Natural gas importer Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) plans to float a shipping subsidiary overseas to haul gas to its greenfield re-gassification terminal of 2.5 million tonnes per annum capacity proposed at Kochi in Kerala. The diversification plan has been unveiled in the tender conditions stipulated by Petronet for selecting ship owners and operators for transporting LNG to the Kochi terminal. This is a departure from the first two shipping tenders finalized by Petronet for hauling gas from RasGas in Qatar to Dahej in Gujarat, wherein it holds a 15 percent stake each in the first two tankers and 23 percent stake in the third tanker. The recent tender floated by Petronet for time chartering two LNG tankers of 165…

Floating LNG market poised for increased investment and activity, report finds. Douglas-Westwood (DW) forecast total expenditure of $64.4bn from 2014-2020 in its new FLNG market report. Two-thirds of this spend is attributed to liquefaction infrastructure, while the remaining is from import and regasification facilities. The previous seven-year period saw minimal investment in floating liquefaction infrastructure, however, with the introduction of floating LNG vessels, global FLNG Capex is expected to experience significant increase over the next seven years.