Page 16 - GLNG Week 03 2021

GLNG AUSTRAL ASIA GLNG

Woodside expands LNG deal with Uniper

PROJECTS & AUSTRALIA’S Woodside Energy has agreed to spot LNG prices soaring in recent weeks, pro-
COMPANIES expand its supply of LNG to Germany’s Uniper jects once deemed overly risky are once again
Global Commodities. under review.
Woodside said on January 18 that its Singa- Woodside CEO Peter Coleman told Austral-
porean trading unit had agreed to double the ian daily The Age on January 21 that “momen-
volumes originally laid out in their binding long- tum” was returning for an FID on the AUD16bn
term sale and purchase agreement (SPA), which ($12.32bn) Scarborough project.
was announced in December 2019. Coleman said he saw “a lot of positive signs”
Woodside Energy Trading Singapore will that Asian LNG demand was strengthening,
increase initial supply volumes starting in 2021 adding: “Chinese buyers are now coming back
to 1mn tonnes per year, and again to approxi- into the market, they’ve approached us again
mately 2mn tpy from 2026. recently to re-engage on negotiations.”
While the LNG is to come from the com- He said: “We think everything is starting to
pany’s global portfolio, Woodside said the line up and gather momentum again.”
majority of supply from 2025 was conditional The deal with Uniper, Coleman said, demon-
upon a final investment decision (FID) being strated further progress towards reaching FID
reached on the development of the Scarbor- in the second half of this year. He added: “This
ough gas resource offshore Western Australia. agreement with Uniper highlights the strong
It noted that the 13-year term of the SPA was market demand we are seeing for Scarbor-
unchanged. ough LNG as customers consider their energy
The Scarborough FID was delayed after last requirements from the second half of this dec-
year’s oil price collapse drove developers around ade. We have now secured long-term custom-
the world to slash upstream budgets in a bid to ers for over 40% of our expected Scarborough
ride out the economic downturn. However, with equity production.”™

EUROPE

Novatek boosts output in

2020 despite headwinds

PERFORMANCE RUSSIAN private gas supplier Novatek managed France’s Total and China’s CNPC and Silk Road
a 2.8% growth in production in 2020, despite Fund.
market headwinds caused by the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic. Asian attraction
The company’s overall hydrocarbon output Recent weeks have seen a spike in LNG spot
averaged 1.66mn barrels of oil equivalent per prices in Asia on the back of strong consumer
day last year, versus 1.62mn boepd in 2019. Gas demand and a plunge in temperatures. Novatek
extraction grew by 3.6% to 77.4bn cubic metres, is keen to capitalise on this premium.
while liquids output inched up 0.7% to 12.2mn In a statement, the company said the Arc7
tonnes (246,000 boepd). ice-class Christophe de Margerie LNG carrier
Novatek’s flagship project is the 17mn tonne (LNGC) had successfully completed an east-
per year (tpy) Yamal LNG export terminal in the ward journey along the Northern Sea Route
Russian Arctic, but it also has a sizeable domes- without any ice-breaker support. This vessel
tic gas sales business. was followed by the Nikolay Yevgenov LNGC.
The impact of the pandemic on the company’s Each tanker will carry 140,000 tonnes of super-
international sales is difficult to determine, as chilled gas to the Asia-Pacific region.
it does not consolidate Yamal LNG’s financial Novatek has been working to expand the nav-
results with its own. As such, while the com- igational season for LNG shipments, and forgo-
pany reported a 30.2% decline in international ing the use of ice-breakers helps cut costs.
sales, this only accounts for the gas it bought and “[Cutting] the navigational period along
resold from Yamal LNG on a spot basis, and not the NSR by almost half the distance and time
the gas sold under contracts directly between of LNG transport to the ports of the Asia-Pa-
Yamal LNG and buyers. More of the project’s gas cific region compared with the traditional route
was sold on a spot basis in 2019 than in 2020, through the Suez Canal allows us to reduce our
as some supply contracts had not yet come into carbon footprint and decrease carbon emissions
force. by 7,000 tonnes per round trip,” CEO Leonid
Novatek is partnered at Yamal LNG with Mikhelson said.™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 22•January•2021