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Sinopec Northwest resumes normal gas supply to WEP
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
CHINA’S state-run Sinopec Northwest Oilfield has fully resumed its supply of natural gas pro- duced from fields in the Xinjiang region to the West-East Pipeline (WEP).
ParentcompanySinopecsaidonApril23thatflow rates had been reduced after the country’s nationwide lockdown designed in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to a decline in domestic demand. It added that Sinopec Northwest would sup- ply at least 350,000 cubic metres per day.
The WEP pipeline network, which China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) owns and operates, delivers gas produced in Xinjiang and imported from Central Asia to the east coast markets. However, the network is likely to be handed over to state-owned China Oil & Gas Piping Network (COGPN), which was created in December 2019 to decouple the country’s oil production and transmission sectors.
Sinopec’s announcement followed Canadian independent Husky Energy’s announcement on April 20 that production from the offshore Liwan gas project had been fully restored. Husky owns a 49% working interest in the Liwan 3-1 and Liuhua 34-2 fields, while state-run CNOOC Ltd owns the remaining 51%.
Husky added that the development of Liuhua 29-1 field was advancing towards first produc- tion by the end of this year. Husky holds a 75% working interest in the field, while CNOOC Ltd owns the remaining interest. Once fully ramped up the field will produce around 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of oil.
Husky said that in addition to its Chinese field ramping back up, its BD project offshore Indonesia had also recovered to full rates follow- ing a planned maintenance programme.
China’s overall gas production climbed by 11.2% year on year to 16.9bn cubic metres in March, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data published on April 17. During the first quarter of the year, produc- tion climbed 9.1% y/y to 48.3 bcm, despite the country’s shutdown.
The country’s imports of LNG, meanwhile, reportedly climbed 6% month on month in March to 4.24mn tonnes. Upstream reported on April 15 that the bump came as demand returned following the easing of social quaran- tine measures towards the end of the month.
China’s first imports of US LNG arrived April 20 via the Maran Gas Vergina tanker, Reuters has reported citing shipping data. It represents the first shipment since March 2019 owing to Beijing’s decision to hike tariffs on US LNG to 25% amid an escalating trade war with Washington.™
QP picks Chinese yard to build LNG carrier fleet
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
STATE-RUN China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC) and state-owned Qatar Petroleum have signed a contract that will see the Chi- nese company build a new fleet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for the Middle Eastern gas giant.
QP said on April 23 that the agreement, which it noted could be worth more than $3bn, allowed it to reserve a “significant portion” of CSSC
Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding’s LNG carrier construction capacity up until the end of 2027.
Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also QP’s president and CEO, said the agreement demonstrated the compa- ny’s confidence “that we are on the right track to ensuring that our future LNG fleet requirements will be met in due time to support our increasing LNG production capacity.”
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 16 23•April•2020