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Tellurian reportedly in supply

talks with Asian buyers

PROJECTS & US-BASED Tellurian is reportedly in talks with interested in buying 12mn tonnes per year of out-
COMPANIES unidentified Asian buyers to sell almost half of its put from Driftwood. The facility would produce
output from its proposed Driftwood LNG termi- 27.6mn tpy in total if it goes ahead.
nal on the Gulf Coast. According to Souki, the deals would be final-
This comes after the planned Driftwood ised during the first half of 2021, with construc-
facility was dealt a blow this year when previous tion on the terminal beginning in the middle of
talks with India’s Petronet LNG failed to result the year. He also said Tellurian would no longer
in a supply and investment deal amid the global employ MoUs as a precursor to more in-depth
downturn in LNG demand and prices. A mem- talks, after the failure of the company’s MoU with
orandum of understanding (MoU) between the Petronet to lead to a firm deal.
two companies expired in July, and while it was For now, France’s Total remains Driftwood’s
subsequently renewed, comments from Petr- only customer.
onet’s director of finance, Vinod Kumar Mishra, Separately, it has emerged that Tellurian com-
indicate that the Indian firm is not likely to move pleted its first ever LNG cargo trade in the third
forward with a deal at this time. quarter of this year. A report the company filed
“I want to clarify again that this is a non-bind- with the US Securities and Exchange Commis-
ing agreement, and there is no obligation on sion (SEC) showed that Tellurian’s marketing
either of the parties to do anything. This is just arm bought the cargo in July and subsequently
an agreement to explore the possibilities of any sold it to an unrelated third party, earning around
deal, which so far has not emerged,” he said. $7mn in the transaction. Further details were not
In the meantime, Tellurian is also turning its provided, apart from the fact that the trade was
attention to other would-be buyers. Last week, Tel- made under a master agreement reached in April
lurian’s chairman, Charif Souki, told Bloomberg 2019 in an effort to earn revenue and prepare for
that his company had other potential customers more future trading activity.™

SOUTH ASIA

OIL extinguishes well fire after five months

PROJECTS & STATE-RUN Oil India Ltd (OIL) has finally government, while also triggering local protests.
COMPANIES extinguished the well fire at Baghjan, a natural A government-ordered investigation into the
gas and condensate field in Assam State, more blowout and subsequent explosion of the well
than five months after the initial explosion. OIL slammed the company’s response to the disaster
spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said on November in July. The commission said OIL had not only
15 that the fire, which started on June 9, had been failed to properly plan, execute and supervise a
“doused completely” and that the company was number of critical operations but had also failed
working to cap the Baghjan-5 well. to secure several government approvals prior to
He said: “The well has been killed with brine spudding the well almost a decade and a half ago.
solution and is under control now. There is no Protesters, meanwhile, have frequently dis-
pressure in the well now, and it will be observed rupted work at the company’s drill sites and
for 24 hours to check if there is any amount of gas workover locations across the state. This has led
migration and pressure build-up.” to lost oil and gas production, with the company
The developer experienced a blowout at the in its quarterly financial results released last week
well on May 27 after it tried to bring a new reser- stating that the disaster had cost it more than
voir on stream. This led to “uncontrollable” flows $30.5mn as of late September.
of gas and condensate that eventually caught Despite various operational pressures, the
fire the following month, killing two OIL fire- company announced a new gas discovery last
fighters and destroying roughly 30 homes. OIL week. OIL said on November 13 that it had
only managed to get the well fire under control struck a gas via the Dinjan-1 well in its Tinsukia
in mid-September, with Hazarika noting at the petroleum mining lease (PML), which is located
time that well-killing operations were due to in the Upper Assam Basin. The discovery, made
begin within three-four weeks. at some point in the first half of financial year
The company’s slow pace in terms of tack- 2020-2021, flowed at a rate of 115,000 cubic
ling the well fire has attracted criticism from the metres per day during testing.™

Week 46 19•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9