Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 02 2021

FSUOGM NRG FSUOGM

operators of both blocks have had to revise their of Indian buyers can’t afford to pay these prices.
schedule because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) We will see demand destruction across various
pandemic. sectors,” Platts quoted an unnamed senior LNG
industry official as saying. “Whatever little avail-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping ability there is in the global spot market, China
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for is taking those cargoes.”
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor .
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Asia: IOC reportedly returns to spot LNG Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
market NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor .
State-run Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) has reportedly
returned to the spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) DMEA: Nigeria works on new refining re-
market despite prices surging to record highs in vamp plan
recent weeks. Nigeria’s state-owned NNPC is negotiating a
The company has launched a tender for $1bn prepayment deal with trading firms to
an LNG cargo to be delivered on February 13, raise funds to modernise its largest refinery in
Reuters reported on January 11 citing unnamed Port Harcourt.
sources. The sources added that the tender, According to Reuters, the prepayment funds
which is set to close on January 13, was the first would be repaid over seven years through deliv-
since IOC bought a cargo for February 21 deliv- eries of crude oil, as well as refined products once
ery at more than $13 per mmBtu ($359.58 per the refinery has been modernised. Cairo-based
1,000 cubic metres). Afreximbank is helping to arrange the financing,
The Indian refiner is looking for LNG at a the news agency said.
time of increased regional demand, which has The 210,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Har-
been stoked by plummeting winter tempera- court facility and NNPC’s other refineries in
tures. Beijing, for example, has recorded its cold- Kaduna and Warri were built in the 1970s and
est weather since 1966. are in need of extensive repairs and modernisa-
Purchasers across East Asia have been forced tion. Their poor state means they can only oper-
to ramp up their imports as they have found ate at a fraction of their combined 445,000 bpd
existing LNG purchases and gas storages to be nameplate capacity.
insufficient. At the same time, unplanned pro- NNPC has made a number of unsuccessful
duction outages around the world – including attempts to rehabilitate the facilities over the
in Australia, Malaysia and Qatar – have exacer- years. Last year it similarly tried to partner with
bated the situation. oil traders, producers and engineering firms to
S&P Global Platts reported on January 11 fund refurbishment. But it gave up after a year
that the JKM benchmark had hit an all-time of fruitless talks.
high of $21.45 per mmBtu ($593.31 per 1,000 The company’s latest effort comes amid a
cubic metres) on January 8, while the West India squeeze in global capital as a result of the coro-
Marker (WIM) benchmark set its own record navirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Investors also
of $17.925 per mmBtu ($495.81 per 1,000 cubic have less appetite for the commodities market
metres). because of weak prices.
Soaring prices led one Indian LNG importer Over in Egypt, the central bank has launched
to predict that throughput levels at some of the an EGP15bn ($950mn) initiative to support
country’s terminals could fall by 10%-12% in the motorists that want to convert their vehicles to
first quarter of 2021. The source told Platts that run on natural gas.
imports could drop to 5.5-5.7mn tonnes from Egypt enjoys a surplus of natural gas supply
6.5mn tonnes in the final quarter of last year. and wants to give gas a greater role in its econ-
“The quick change in the market dynamics omy. The government eventually wants to see
has taken Indian LNG buyers by surprise. A lot as many as 1.3mn gas-fuelled cars on the road,

Week 02 13•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9