Page 11 - GLNG Week 45

GLNG
NEWS IN BRIEF
GLNG
AMERICAS
Gunvor reportedly hires
Russian tanker for loading
of US LNG cargo
Commodity trader Gunvor has hired the Marshal Vasilevskiy vessel from Russia’s Gazprom for the loading of an LNG cargo from the US, Reuters reported two industry sources as saying.
The vessel was previously leased to Austria’s OMV, which had said it would be using the tanker until November.
Refinitiv Eikon data show that the tanker
– a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) that can also act as an LNG vessel
– departed from the port of Rotterdam on November 4. It is due to arrive at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana on November 26, with loading scheduled for November 29.
The hiring of the tanker could prove awkward for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has previously complained that US LNG is undercutting gas exports from
his country. Indeed, Gazprom’s deliveries of pipeline gas to Europe are expected to fall this year from a record high of more than 200bn cubic metres in 2018, on the back of European efforts to reduce the continent’s dependence on Russian gas and diversify sources of supply.
ASIA
Rudong LNG receives first cargo after outage
PetroChina’s Rudong LNG import terminal received its first cargo of LNG in more than a month last week after an outage. The
shut-down at the terminal, after a pipeline sustained damage from a storm, helped break China’s 30-month streak of LNG import increases.
According to Bloomberg data, the Gaslog Singapore tanker docked at the terminal on November 6, departing the following day with a lower draft. This indicates that LNG had been unloaded from the tanker.
Rudong LNG is among China’s largest terminal, and the shut-down contributed to
a drop in the country’s total gas imports to 6.52mn tonnes in October. This was the first y/y decline in Chinese LNG imports since March 2017, Bloomberg reported. Customs data show that inbound shipments, including LNG and piped gas, were down 780,000 tonnes from October 2018. Rudong received about 727,000 tonnes of LNG in October 2018, compared with nothing last month, according to ship-tracking data, so the overall decline is thought to be mostly attributable to the outage.
Indonesia’s PGN strikes LNG supply deal with Sinopec
Indonesia’s state-owned gas utility Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) has struck a short-term deal to supply LNG to China’s state-owned Sinopec in 2020.
Under the deal, PGN will supply at least six LNG cargoes to Sinopec, with the first shipment expected to set off by early January 2020.
PGN is open to supplying the LNG cargoes either from domestic or international sources.
The company did not disclose further details on the volume to be supplied or the value of the contract.
“We are very enthusiastic to build cooperation between Sinopec and PGN,” PGN’s director of strategy and development,
Syahrial Muktar, was quoted as saying. “Sinopec is one of the biggest energy companies in China. We believe that our goal to sign a LNG purchase cooperation agreement is the beginning of what we can collaborate going forward,” he added.
“The hope is that we can further
explore the potential of LNG sales and the development of LNG infrastructure with this opportunity, from terminals, small-scale, bunkers and so on,” Muktar said.
Corruption inquiry delays
$240m worth of investment
in Pakistan’s LNG
The arrest of a Lahore-based businessman
by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) about two months ago has resulted in about $240mn worth of foreign investment in the country’s LNG industry being delayed, the Express Tribune cited industry sources as saying.
Anti-corruption watchdog NAB arrested businessman Iqbal Z Ahmed on September 4, 2019, on charges of money laundering the newspaper reported. Ahmed is the owner
of Pakistan GasPort Ltd (PGPL), which is
a major shareholder in the second LNG terminal operating at Port Qasim.
According to the industry sources, Ahmed was close to signing a contract worth around $100mn with China’s Xinjian Petroleum and Engineering to build another LNG terminal in Karachi without involving government guarantees for LNG offtake.
“Pakistan desperately needs energy solutions and foreign investment to encourage other investors but the arrest has delayed the process,” one of the sources was reported as saying.
In October, the NAB released a new standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding businessmen, which requires a notice to be issued to the accused, after which a written reply will be sought. While the SOP was brought in after Ahmed’s arrest, industry players have called for him to be treated in accordance with the new rules in order to help revive business confidence in Pakistan.
The new LNG terminal project is still set to receive $140mn from commodity trader Trafigura, along with provision of a credit line of over $1bn for the import and sale of LNG. But this investment also looks set to be delayed as the investigation into Ahmed continues.
Week 45 14•November•2019
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P11