Page 12 - GLNG Week 16

GLNG
NEWS IN BRIEF
GLNG
treated as a test run to assess the viability of more spot market purchases in the future.
EGAT had previously approved a plan
to import additional spot LNG cargoes in order to enhance Thailand’s energy security and liberalise its gas market, Reuters cited an EGAT assistant governor, Ranee Kositvanich, as saying.
“Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, EGAT is reviewing a medium-term LNG procurement plan for 2020-22,” Ranee added. “We expect
to make policy proposals in the next steps for approval,” she said, but did not provide further details.
Thailand is reviewing its power development plan, and has yet to decide whether it will import more LNG in the future.
EGAT previously planned to sign a long- term contract with Petronas to import up to 1.5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, but this plan was abandoned in December.
AUSTRALASIA
Australian LNG import
project wins state approval
for amended plan
Australian Industrial Energy (AIE) has won state approval for changes to its plan to import LNG to Port Kembla on Australia’s east coast, allowing the terminal to take in more gas
during the winter months.
Having secured planning approval from
the state of New South Wales, AIE has said it will now focus on finding customers for the project.
The first customer for the facility – EnergyAustralia, the country’s third-largest gas retailer – has already been lined up.
AIE has also booked a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and contractors to build wharf facilities.
The company is hoping to lock in at least 4-5 large industrial gas users and one or two major gas retailers as customers, and win federal backing for its own gas-fired power station before going ahead with the terminal, Reuters cited project head Peter Mitchley as saying.
AIE applied to modify its original plan for the facility in 2019 in order to increase the terminal’s permitted output and step up the number of LNG cargoes it can receive. The move is aimed at meeting seasonal demand.
“The modification will allow increased volumes of gas to flow through the terminal, satisfying the market need for more gas during winter months,” AIE said in a statement.
AIE is backed by Japan’s JERA – the world’s largest buyer of LNG – trading house Marubeni and Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy.
If AIE reaches a final investment decision (FID) on the AUD250mn ($159mn) import project this year, it could start importing LNG by 2022, with construction expected to take 14-16 months.
“This terminal will make the state of NSW more self-sufficient when it comes to energy and will create greater access to the global gas market,” said the NSW planning department’s energy, resources and compliance head, Mike Young.
The push to build LNG import capacity comes despite the fact that Australia is one of the world’s leading two exporters of the super- chilled fuel. Amid fears of looming domestic gas shortages in some parts of the country, Port Kembla has become one of four projects proposed to import LNG.
And Mitchley noted that while the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has slowed talks with would-be customers, the collapse in gas prices has boosted interest in the project.
“We’re seeing more interest in the regas terminal because there’s a fear about what the low price means for upstream gas production,” Mitchley was quoted by Reuters as saying.
EUROPE
LR to class new multi-role
ships for federal German
government
The German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration awarded this complex project to ABEKING & RASMUSSEN Schiffs- und Yachtwerft SE. The shipbuilders, in agreement
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Week 16 24•April•2020