Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 03 2021

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Predator Oil & Gas (UK) is also advancing an US to Asia via the Panama Canal is expected to
FSRU project in Ireland but insists it will not take last for the duration of the winter months, when
shale gas because of its environmental impact. demand peaks, according to traders cited by
Reuters. This comes despite the canal’s regulator
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping saying it had made changes designed to speed up
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for transit through the waterway.
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. The bottleneck is contributing to record-
high Asian spot prices, alongside freezing win-
FSU OGM: Nord Stream 2 sanctions ter weather and some supply outages. Reuters
Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Group will with- reported that LNG carriers had to wait for up
draw from Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, to two weeks to transit the canal in December.
sources told Reuters on January 16, as the US However, the canal’s regulatory authority told
prepares to slap stricter sanctions on the project. the news service that the wait had now halved to
Washington is set to expand its sanctions one week. Analysts and traders expect the con-
regime against the near-complete project within gestion to last until March.
weeks, after both houses of US Congress over- Meanwhile, certain LNG developers are
rode a Trump veto of a defence bill containing showing signs of confidence in longer-term
the measures. Current sanctions only target demand for the super-chilled fuel. Last week,
those companies providing pipelaying vessels for Tellurian’s co-founder and executive chairman, The US wants
Nord Stream 2, but the US wants to punish those Charif Souki, said his company was targeting to punish
providing technical certification and insurance, this summer to begin construction of the Drift-
as well as other construction activities such as wood LNG terminal in Louisiana. companies
surveying, trenching and rock replacement. “There is a strong need for additional lique-
The US State Department earlier this month faction capacity and we’re probably the project providing
warned European companies suspected of that is the closest to starting construction,” he
assisting the project to pull out before it was too said. A final investment decision (FID) has not technical
late. Zurich has extensive operations in the US, yet been reached on Driftwood, but Souki said certification and
meaning that it is greatly exposed to asset sei- the level of customer interest in offtake from the
zures and other potential sanctions measures. It project had risen “pretty dramatically” over the insurance for
is one of around 20 insurers that is supporting past month.
Nord Stream 2, according to Reuters. Separately, a tender was launched this week Nord Stream 2
Over in Ukraine, the government is planning for offtake from the planned 8.4mn tonne per
to cap gas prices for households in a move that year (tpy) Commonwealth LNG project, also in
may further jeopardise the country’s co-op- Louisiana. The company noted that this was “the
eration with the IMF, Bloomberg reported on first ever tender process in which prospective
January 13. Kyiv is taking the step to protect LNG customers can secure future term supply at
household finances at a time when the economy volumes, pricing and durations of their choosing
is reeling from the impact of the coronavirus through competitive bidding”.
(COVID-19) pandemic. This approach illustrates the growing flexi-
But Ukraine’s lenders are concerned that the bility in the LNG market, and Commonwealth,
government is backtracking on reform. with support from Gunvor Group, hopes that
it will win over customers more easily than its
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping competitors thanks to the variety of options it
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please has on offer.
click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
GLNG: Transit bottlenecks the global LNG sector then please click here for
Congestion delaying LNG shipments from the NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.

Week 03 21•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9