Natural Gas Project News

The Biden administration is working closely with partner countries over sanctions on a Russian liquefied natural gas project in the Arctic as a January deadline looms on a wind down of transactions with the plant, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.The U.S. imposed sanctions last week on the Arctic LNG-2 project in Russia as part of wide-ranging measures to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, part of the Treasury Department, also issued a general license that authorizes the wind down of transactions involving Arctic LNG-2, through Jan.

On March 3, the Coast Guard published a notice that Martin Midstream Partners (MMP), a petrochemical transport and storage company, was seeking approval to modify terminal operations in Beaumont, Texas, along the Sabine-Neches Waterway. If approved, MMP would expand its liquefied hazardous gas (LHG) operations, both in volume and products. Instead of just handling ammonia the change would allow shipments of butane, propane, ethane, ethylene and propylene.Critically, MMP’s expansion would increase LHG vessel transit from 24 ships to as many as 350 per year.

Chinese oil and gas techincal services company Jutal Offshore Oil Services has announced that the company has obtained a slew of new contracts with total value of RMB3.5bn ($490mln).The number of new contracts include large-scale core modules construction of Arctic LNG 2 natural gas project, wind turbine jacket construction, and other offshore engineering and services said the company engaged in the fabrication of oil and gas facilities and oil and gas processing skid equipment business."Site construction of some large-scale construction projects have been gradually commenced, of which the core modules construction project for an international natural gas petrochemical plant has been completed of a total of approximately 27% of the progress as per scheduled…

US liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer Venture Global LNG has signed a deal with investment firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners for a $1.3bn equity investment in the Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility.Calcasieu Pass  project is a 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) liquefied natural gas project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. - giving the LNG project a major financial boost as construction starts. The facility is expected to begin supplying LNG to customers in 2022.This brings total committed capital to fund the construction of Calcasieu Pass and the continued development of Venture Global’s 20 MTPA Plaquemines LNG and 20 MTPA Delta LNG facilities to $2.2 billion.Venture Global LNG Co-CEO Mike Sabel stated…

Russia's Novatek said on Friday it had sold a 20 percent stake in its new liquefied natural gas project, Arctic LNG 2, to two Chinese companies on the same terms as a similar deal with France's Total.Novatek announced the sale on Thursday but did not provide financial details.Earlier this year, Total, a shareholder in Novatek itself and its Yamal LNG project, bought a 10 percent stake in Arctic LNG 2 project. (Reuters, Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Maria Grabar, Writing by Andrey Kuzmin, Editing by Louise Heavens)

Russian gas producer Novatek said on  that it had signed agreements with two Chinese companies to sell a combined 20 percent stake in its new liquefied natural gas project, Arctic LNG 2.Under the agreement, the Chinese firms -CNOOC and CNODC - will become shareholders in the Arctic LNG project with 10 percent each. Novatek gave no financial details in a statement announcing the agreements.According to a press release, Novatek  has signed a binding agreement to enter the Arctic LNG 2 project with China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company Ltd (CNODC), a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).The binding agreement…

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer and LNG operator, Novatek received the first shipment of cargo for its Arctic LNG 2 project at the Utrenneye field.The nuclear container ship Sevmorput owned by Rosatomflot loaded the cargo and arrived at the site on March 26, said a statement from Rosatomflot.It took the Sevmorput five days of sailing to reach the Gulf of Ob, it said. The 260 meter long vessel on 21st March sailed out from Arkhangelsk fully loaded with construction goods for Novatek’s new natural gas project.“The transfer from Arkhangelsk went in a regular mode and took five days,” said Andrey Smirnov, director of shipping for Atomflot FSUE.

Rosatomflot (FSUE Atomflot), Russian company that maintains the world's only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, said that its nuclear icebreakers steered 331 ships of a total gross capacity 12.7 mln tons. As compared to 2017, the capacity of steered ships increased by 5 mln tons.The Rosatom group company said in a press release that with that, the number of steering operations decreased (last year it was 493 ships) due to completion of the active phase of construction in the port of Sabetta and reduction of flow of vessels carrying cargoes for construction.Besides, as liquefied natural gas shipments from Sabetta started by LNG tankers of Yamalmax class…

Royal Dutch Shell's  Shell Australia said Wednesday it entered into a sales agreement with Timor-Leste to sell the government a 26.56% interest in the Greater Sunrise fields for $300 million.The Greater Sunrise fields, comprised of the Sunrise and Troubadour gas and condensate fields, are located about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Timor-Leste and 450 kilometers (279 miles) northwest of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Shell said in a statement.Timor-Leste's Special Representative Xanana Gusmão stated that "Timor-Leste appreciates Shell's willingness to sell its interests in the Greater Sunrise project".Gusmão recalled that…

Russian natural gas producer Novatek plans to open the third line of its Yamal liquefied natural gas project in December, ahead of schedule, Chief Executive Leonid Mikhelson said on Tuesday.Novatek's Yamal terminal has been ramping up LNG shipments faster than expected after loading its first cargo in December 2017, with two trains now running at capacity.(Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Chevron will exit the Makassar Strait gas block in the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) offshore natural gas project to focus on more promising areas in the venture, Indonesian officials said on Wednesday.Indonesia's energy minister had issued a decree terminating Chevron's Makassar Strait production sharing contract (PSC) after it decided not to extend its operation of the block beyond 2020, upstream oil and gas regulator SKKMigas said."Chevron was not interested in requesting an extension," SKKMigas chairman Amien Sunaryadi told reporters.

In the presence of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, Total has signed an agreement with Novatek outlining the terms upon which Total shall acquire a direct working interest of 10% in Arctic LNG 2, a giant liquefied natural gas project lead by Novatek on the Gydan Peninsula in the north of Siberia. Taking account of Total’s approximate 19% stake in Novatek and Novatek’s intention to retain 60% of the project, the Group's overall economic interest in this new LNG project will be approximately 21.5%. Should Novatek decide to reduce its participation below 60%, Total will have the possibility to increase its direct share up to 15%.

UK-based TechnipFMC has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by BP for the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit for the Tortue/Ahmeyim Field Development, a major LNG (liquefied natural gas) project located offshore on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal. The agreement between the two companies provides a mechanism to allow a transition of the contract to an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contract at a later stage. TechnipFMC will work on defining the technology and equipment scope and brings expertise to deliver major projects, leveraging extensive experience with Chinese fabrication .

Chevron Corp will proceed with the second stage of its giant Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant off the northwest coast of Western Australia, the company said on Saturday.Chevron and its joint venture partners plan to sink 11 new wells in the Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields and build offshore pipelines and subsea structures to pipe the gas to the nearby 15.6 million tonne a year LNG plant on Barrow Island.The $54 billion Gorgon project came on stream in March 2016 but suffered numerous unplanned shutdowns in its early stages.Chevron declined to put a cost on stage two of the project…

China has assured the Philippines it will not occupy new features or territory in the South China Sea, under a new "status quo" brokered by Manila as both sides try to strengthen their relations, the Philippine defence minister said. Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano also said the Philippines was working on a "commercial deal" with China to explore and exploit oil and gas resources in disputed areas of the South China Sea with an aim to begin drilling within a year. The defence minister, Delfin Lorenzana, told a congressional hearing the Philippines and China had reached a "modus vivendi", or a way to get along, in the South China Sea that prohibits new occupation of islands.

French oil giant Total held talks with Iranian officials about several projects in the country in 2016, notably a 10 million tonnes per year liquefied natural gas project (LNG), Reuters reported. It has signed an agreement with Iranian authorities for a 50 per cent stake  in Iran’s South Pars gas field project which will developed at an investment of $4 billion. Sources told Reuters in February that Total was in talks to buy a multi-billion dollar stake in Iran's partly-built LNG export facility. Total signed a preliminary deal for the South Pars project last year, becoming the first Western oil major to sign an energy agreement after the European Union and the United States eased sanctions against Iran.

International climate scientists are calling on the Canadian government to reject a proposed liquefied natural gas project by Petronas-backed Pacific NorthWest LNG in British Columbia, saying it would have dire environmental effects, according to a report in Canadian Press. Ninety academics from Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom released an open letter Monday saying the Pacific NorthWest LNG project would be one of the country’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, and if built, would undermine Canada’s climate change commitments. The $36-billion dollar plant backed by Malyasian state-owned energy giant Petronas is slated to be built south of Prince Rupert, B.C.

The first shipment of a ‘core kit’ for Russia’s Yamal LNG project has set sail for northern Russia from the Chinese port of Qingdao. China's first batch of two air cooled condensing modules of LNG project are the biggest and heaviest kits being used for the project. They are set to arrive at the construction site in late June, says China Central Television. Yamal is a liquefied natural gas project located deep in the Russian Arctic. It is expected to start operating next year. 85 percent of the liquefied natural gas will be transported to the Asia Pacific market. It is China's first export of LNG core modules, indicating that China has entered into the international high-end oil and gas equipment market.

Chevron Corporation announced that its Australian subsidiaries have signed a non-binding Heads of Agreement (HoA) with ENN LNG Trading Company Limited (ENN) for the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China from the Chevron-operated Gorgon natural gas project in Australia. When the deal is finalized, ENN is expected to receive up to 0.5 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG over 10 years, with deliveries starting in 2018 or the first half of 2019. “This is one more step in the development of our Australian gas business and our global LNG portfolio…

Russia's Yamal LNG liquefied natural gas project is on track and will be profitable even with low oil and gas prices, Sberbank Chief Executive German Gref said on Tuesday.   "This is the most expensive project, (it) will completely change the gas economy of the country," he told President Vladimir Putin. (Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin)

British Columbia Finance Minister Mike de Jong has tabled a bill designed to spell out the rules for a proposed $45-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, placing the Liberal government’s pro-LNG agenda on a collision course with the NDP. The bill provides the legal authority for government to enable a project agreement with Pacific NorthWest LNG. “This is an opportunity for the public, for legislators to analyze and discuss the documents and the legislation that will breathe life into a whole new industry and whole era of opportunity in B.C.,” he said. B.C. Opposition NDP Leader John Horgan, however, said his party will be opposing the bill because it has flaws, stressing that the NDP is not against resource development.

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) has concluded time-charters for two new LNG carriers with Diamond Gas International, a Singapore affiliate of Mitsubishi Corporation. NYK also concluded a contract with MI LNG Company Limited for the construction of the LNG carriers, the company said in its press release. The ships will haul gas from the Cameron LNG (liquefied natural gas)  project in Louisiana in the US to Asia, primarily Japan. These new ships will be delivered in 2018 and assigned to transport LNG for the Cameron LNG Project in the U.S. state of Louisiana which Mitsubishi Corporation under the ship management by NYK. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has confirmed that it has won an order for two ‘Sayaringo STaGE,’ a next-generation LNG carriers, for delivery NYK Line.

The new General Manager for Egypt is Dr Hans-Hermann Ecke, who is responsible for the business of the Egyptian subsidiary of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG based in Cairo since the beginning of March. “I am looking forward to the upcoming tasks in Egypt, where DEA has already been part of the oil and gas industry for more than 40 years,” says Dr Hans-Hermann Ecke. “With our Disouq natural gas project, we have recently been able to more than double our oil and gas production in Egypt. Dr Hans-Hermann Ecke has a PHD in geology. He is well  experienced in Egypt‘s upstream industry and DEA Egypt’s E&P projects from his earlier employment as General Manager in the period from 2009 to 2011.