Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 28 2020

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But exactly what projects the pair are looking at has not been disclosed. In any case, a nalised investment is unlikely to materialise anytime soon. Like other majors, BP’s priority now is cut- ting costs and boosting cash ow. It is hard to see how re-entering Kazakhstan ts with its current strategy.
One rm deal to come out of Kazakhstan this month has been a $135mn construction contract awarded to the UK’s Petrofac, by the consortium developing the giant Kashagan oil eld in the Caspian Sea.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor.
LNG importers make moves
Progress is being made on various LNG import projects and initiatives globally, provid- ing an industry that continues to struggle with oversupply with cause for optimism.
On July 9, a foundation-laying ceremony was held in Cyprus for a new LNG import terminal that is being hailed as the largest energy project ever undertaken by the country. e €289mn ($326mn) project is being built by a joint venture comprising China Petroleum Pipeline Engineer- ing, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), and Greece’s Metron. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades is aiming to inau- gurate the terminal before his second and nal ve-year presidential term comes to an end in 2023.
In other LNG-importing countries, mean- while, efforts are under way to open up the industry to competition. It was reported last week that Singapore’s Energy Market Authority
is seeking to appoint two new LNG term import- ers for the city-state, adding to the two it already has. e appointment is being sought in an e ort to boost competition and provide Singapore’s gas buyers with more options.
And in Brazil, state-owned Petrobras has pre-qualified 10 bidders for leasing its Bahia LNG import terminal and associated infrastruc- ture over the long term. e company is exit- ing natural gas distribution and transport and opening third-party access to its infrastructure under a 2019 agreement with Brazil’s anti-trust regulator.
No timeline has yet been issued for the next stage of the bidding process.
At the same time as these various moves are being made, though, the downturn continues to weigh on the LNG industry. According to Ref- initiv data, Latin American LNG imports this year so far have dropped to 6.7mn tonnes, down almost 38% from a year ago. Separately, Re nitiv showed that gas pipeline ows to US LNG export terminals had fallen to an average of 3.1bn cubic feet (87.8mn cubic metres) per day in the rst week of July from a 20-month low of 4.1 bcf (116.1 mcm) per day in June.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping the global LNG sector then please click here for NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.
Mideast: Quiet despite Houthi attacks
e Middle Eastern oil and gas market was quiet this week despite renewed efforts by Yemen’s Houthis to disrupt Saudi Arabian infrastructure.
e Houthis said that they had attacked and hit an oil facility in the southern Saudi Arabian city of Jazan.
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