Page 11 - GLNG Week 33
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GLNG ASIA GLNG
Shenzhen Gas to start up LNG terminal
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
SHENZHEN Gas has said it will launch oper- ations at its wholly owned lique ed natural gas (LNG) import terminal in southern China’s Shenzhen City this week.
e general manager of Shenzhen Gas unit Sino-Benny, Qiu Lihua, told Reuters on August 16 that the new 800,000 tonne per year (tpy) facility at the port of Yantian would receive a commissioning cargo of 65,000 cubic metres on August 19 from Italian major Eni.
“ is will be our own facility that will be con- nected to the existing municipal grid that takes in piped gas from [state-run] CNOOC and Pet- roChina,” Qiu said.
Sino-Benny will operate the terminal, which has an 80,000 cubic metre storage tank and was built next to the company’s existing LPG import facility.
While Asian spot LNG prices are at a near three-year low, Shenzhen Gas is aiming to secure a three-to- ve year term supply contract, with
Qiu saying: “As our berth is not of a standard size, we can’t really rely on random spot supplies, as the cargoes available may not t our berth.”
Qiu anticipates Shenzhen’s gas demand will maintain double-digit growth in the coming years, led by residential use and power genera- tion. e executive said the number of house- holds using piped natural gas would double by the end of 2020 from 2.1mn at present.
e outlook for the city’s economic growth is certainly bright, after state broadcaster CCTV revealed that the government intended the city to be a test centre for reforms in the legal, financial, medical and social sectors. Under the plan, which Beijing unveiled on August 20, Shenzhen is to become a leader in terms of innovation, public service and environmental protection by 2025. e plan also aims to turn Shenzhen into and a global “benchmark” for competitiveness, innovation and in uence by the middle of the century.
AUSTRALASIA
Papua LNG agreement in doubt once more
POLICY
AFTER several months of mixed messaging from the Papua New Guinea (PNG) govern- ment, the future of the Papua LNG project is once more unclear.
e Papua New Guinea (PNG) government revealed on August 15 that it had sent a team to Singapore to renegotiate the terms of a natural gas agreement it signed in April with the consor- tium developing the project. e government’s negotiating team intended to return early the fol- lowing week, PNG Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua said at the time. e minister was part of the team.
“The negotiations could work out well or even disastrously,” he warned. “Success in the discussions could lead to early progress of the project. By the same token failure could have very serious rami cations. is is a risk we take aswetrytomoveinthedirectionoftakingPNG back and making it wealthy.”
e tough talk and news of a renegotiation comes as a surprise, given that Kua had said on August 2 that the Cabinet had “agreed in prin- ciple” on July 2 to honour the agreement signed with Total, Oil Search and ExxonMobil setting out the project’s scal framework.
ose comments were also a departure from the frequent calls for contract renegotiations he has made since entering o ce in June.
While neither side has commented on the meetings held in Singapore, Oil Search manag- ing director Peter Botten told the Sydney Morn- ing Herald on August 20 that further talks were
planned with the aim of reaching an agreement by the end of the month.
Botten would not be drawn on whether such a timeline could be met, simply saying: “I’m not goingtoputoddsonit.”
He added: “We’re doing whatever we can to work with whoever we can to try and get this resolved as quickly as possible. Time is running out, though. It’s unusual that this is happening at such a critical time in the project.”
Total has a 31.1% operated interesting in the Petroleum Retention Licence 15 (PRL 15) joint venture, which is developing the Elk-Antelope gas discovery, post the state’s back-in right of 22.5%. ExxonMobil owns 28.3% and Oil Search has the remaining 17.7%. e partners have previously said they are working towards making a nal investment decision (FID) on Papua LNG in 2020.
PNG Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua
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