Page 7 - GLNG Week 38

GLNG NRG GLNG

burden, it has also called for greater tax breaks to of the super-chilled fuel – is seeking to undercut
be provided to Rosneft’s Priobskoye and Vankor competitors by developing significant new low-
oilfields. The latter will play a key role in the cost LNG capacity. This week, a warning came
company’s Vostok Oil megaproject in the Rus- that this push to bring down the cost of LNG
sian Arctic. could make it more difficult for producers in
Australia and elsewhere to sanction new lique-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping faction projects.
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor . Pressure on Venezuela
This week’s LatAmOil takes a close look at devel-
More talk of carbon-neutral LNG as over- opments involving Venezuela.
supply continues The South American state continues to
The idea of carbon-neutral LNG is being talked suffer widespread fuel shortages but is await-
about with increasingly frequency, although ing the arrival of two tankers filled with Ira-
it accounts for only a miniscule fraction of the nian gasoline. The shipments are not likely to
LNG market to date. (See: Carbon-neutral LNG provide relief for long, as the vessels only hold
moving into the spotlight, page 9) enough to cover consumption for a few weeks,
Six cargoes of LNG that can be described as US special envoy Elliott Abrams pointed out
carbon-neutral have been traded to date. Four of last week. Abrams also indicated that Washing-
these were cargoes sold by Royal Dutch Shell that ton did not intend to seize these cargoes, as it
involved full-lifecycle carbon offsets, one was a did in August.
partial offset by Japan’s JERA and there has also In the meantime, the national oil company
been a tender by Pavilion Energy for offsets up to (NOC) PdVSA is reportedly scrapping some
the point of delivery. of its own infrastructure in order to secure
Earlier this month, carbon-neutral LNG metal and parts. According to Bloomberg,
was discussed at the Gastech Virtual Summit, it hopes to use these materials as payment in
where speakers noted that the growing appe- kind for repair work on pumping stations and
tite for offsetting emissions from the fuel would compression facilities that serve oil production
raise its costs. However, such an increase in the facilities in Monagas State. The NOC is eager to
price of LNG would come at a time when low bring these fields back on stream, as they con-
natural gas prices are key to displacing com- tain light crude that can be made into gasoline
peting fuels, including coal, and to penetrating more easily than the heavy crude contained in
emerging, price-sensitive markets in Asia. As the Orinoco belt.
a result, the industry would need to be careful Further north, Canada’s Crystallex has asked
to balance decarbonisation with remaining a judge in the US federal court system to set a
cost-competitive. date for the sale of shares in PdV Holding, the
Wood Mackenzie’s principal analyst for PdVSA subsidiary that is the parent company
Asia-Pacific gas and LNG, Lucy Cullen, told of US-based downstream operator Citgo Petro-
Gastech that two sets of buyers could emerge leum. Crystallex, which is trying to enforce a
on the LNG market if carbon-neutral LNG $1.4bn arbitration decision that went against
becomes more commonplace. The first set Venezuela, has proposed that the sales begin on
would be those that are more carbon-conscious January 11, 2021.
and the second would be those that are more
sensitive to price. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
The discussion about carbon-neutral LNG the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click
comes as Qatar – one of the leading producers here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor .

Week 38 25•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7