Page 6 - NorthAmOil Week 26 2022
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NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil
FIDs taken on gas pipeline developments
US FINAL investment decisions (FIDs) were conduit is “ideally positioned to incorporate
announced this week on two pipeline projects carbon capture and storage as a further decar-
that will transport 2.35mn cubic feet (67mn bonising solution for natural gas production in
cubic metres) per day of gas from the Haynesville the rapidly growing Haynesville basin”.
and Permian basins. The announcement follows the signing of a
The largest of the two is the Louisiana Energy memorandum of understanding (MoU) earlier
Gateway (LEG), which will move 1.8bn cubic in the year with Quantum Energy Partners to
feet (51 mcm) per day from Haynesville. Devel- form a joint venture (JV) through which Quan-
oper Williams Companies announced the FID tum can acquire equity in the project.
on June 29, saying that gas would be transported The same day, Permian Highway Pipeline
“to premium markets, including Transco, indus- (PHP) said it had taken an FID on a 550 mmcf
trial markets and growing LNG export demand (15.6 mcm) per day expansion of its infrastruc-
along the Gulf Coast”. ture after it secured binding transportation
It said that the project is anticipated to agreements for the full capacity.
begin operations in late 2024 and the company The pipeline has a current capacity of 2.1 bcf
expects the conduit will provide further oppor- (59.5 mcm) per day and transports gas from the
tunities to develop market access projects, car- Waha area to Katy, Texas. The expanded route is
bon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure expected to come into operation on November
that will “decarbonise the natural gas value 1, 2023. PHP is owned by subsidiaries of Kinder
chain”. Morgan (26.7%), Kinetik Holdings (53.3%) and
In a statement, Williams’ president and CEO, ExxonMobil (20%).
Alan Armstrong, said that LEG would unlock Sital Mody, president of Kinder Morgan
“capacity for Haynesville production growth and Natural Gas Midstream, said: “We are excited
facilitating the delivery of next gen gas to meet to have achieved FID on this very important
the climate goals and the energy needs of our expansion. The project will alleviate transporta-
customers and our country”. tion constraints out of the Permian Basin so as to
Meanwhile, SVP for corporate strategic further support meeting our domestic and global
development Chad Zamarin said that the energy needs.”
INVESTMENT
PetroChina reportedly weighing
exit from Australia, Canada
GLOBAL STATE-OWNED PetroChina is reported to be Arrow Energy joint venture and a stake in the
considering exiting its investments in Australia Browse gas project. However, Arrow is now the
and Canada in a bid to divert funds to more prof- company’s largest loss-making overseas invest-
itable opportunities elsewhere. ment, while Browse has run into delays and
This follows a similar shift in focus for another technological challenges and is currently not
Chinese state-owned company, CNOOC Ltd, expected to go online until at least 2030.
which was reported in April to be preparing to The partners in Browse are now exploring a
PetroChina operates exit its operations in the US, UK and Canada. downsized plan to use the field to feed the Kar-
two oil sands projects in This was attributed to concerns that those assets ratha gas plant in north-western Australia. How-
Canada, MacKay River could become subject to sanctions. ever, one of Reuters’ sources said the plan did not
and Dover. In PetroChina’s case, any efforts to offload appeal to PetroChina, as it had no ownership in
assets in Australia and Canada would be follow- the gas plant and also still foresaw considerable
ing an internal review of the company’s global uncertainties ahead for the project.
portfolio that began last year, according to two In Canada, the company’s MacKay River and
sources cited by Reuters. Unlike CNOOC, Pet- Dover projects are located in the oil sands region,
roChina would be more motivated to exit its which has seen a number of international inves-
assets by their poor economics than any concern tors exit in recent years, with Canadian com-
over US sanctions, as it does not have any oil and panies snapping up those assets when they are
gas assets in the US. Nonetheless, the sources put up for sale. According to one of the sources,
said political tensions with Australia and Canada PetroChina is unhappy with the relatively high
were also contributing to the company consider- production cost of $70 per barrel at both of its
ing an exit. oil sands projects, which have also attracted local
In Australia, PetroChina’s assets include the opposition on environmental concerns.
P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 30•June•2022
