Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 50 2020

FSUOGM NRG FSUOGM

The investors in the
Karachaganak gas field
have spent the last five
years in a dispute with
the Kazakh government
over how profits from
production are shared.

US financial firm MSCI upgraded Novatek’s ESG to a source cited by Bloomberg. This comes as
rating from BBB to A, making it the only Russian unplanned maintenance at other liquefaction
company to achieve such a high rating. plants around the world has helped eat into
In a move that should make its green creden- the global oversupply of LNG, pushing up spot
tials even more convincing, the company is also prices to their highest level in around two years.
reportedly working with Germany’s Siemens on And in longer-term challenges for the indus-
a plan to produce and use hydrogen at its Yamal try, consultancy Wood Mackenzie published a
LNG plant. new report last week, showing that a “2-degree
Third and finally for this week, the consor- scenario” – involving global warming being lim-
tium developing the giant Karachaganak field ited to 2 degrees Celsius – would put around 77%
in Kazakhstan has finally paid $1.3bn to settle a of new LNG supply at risk.
long-running dispute with the government over The consultancy said low-cost supplies from
profit-sharing. The agreement paves the way for Russia and Qatar would be best positioned to
the project’s investors to push ahead with a $1bn fill the supply gap under this scenario, while low
expansion project. Henry Hub prices would also mean competitive
US LNG projects. However, it added that this
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping scenario would raise questions over the need for
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please other new liquefaction projects elsewhere.
click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor .
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
GLNG: Certain projects move forward, the global LNG sector then please click here for
while others see disruptions NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor .
Certain LNG projects were reported to be mov-
ing forward in recent days, including a small- LatAmOil: New find offshore Suriname
scale US LNG export terminal proposed for New The Guyana-Suriname basin continues to arouse
Jersey, which cleared another regulatory hurdle interest, following the announcement of another
last week. offshore discovery.
The Delaware River Basin Commission Petronas (Malaysia) and ExxonMobil (US)
(DRBC) voted 4-0 to uphold a decision approv- revealed last week that they had discovered
ing a key part of the project, which would involve hydrocarbons in Sloanea-1, an exploration well
building a second dock to load LNG tankers at drilled at Block 51 offshore Suriname. In a state-
the proposed Gibbstown Logistics Centre. The ment, Petronas said the partners had “encoun-
second dock had been contested by local envi- tered several hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone
ronmental groups, and the DBRC had agreed packages with good reservoir qualities in the
last year to reconsider its initial approval of this Campanian section” of the well.
step, but subsequently decided that there was no Neither company has commented on the size
basis for rescinding the approval. of the find, but Petronas stated that the partners’
The plan for the export terminal has also been next step would be to evaluate the data collected
in the spotlight because it involves transporting during drilling. It also commented that the “well
LNG by truck or rail from shale plays in the data proves excellent calibration of the hydrocar-
US Northeast – with the administration of US bon potential of the block.”
President Donald Trump only recently allowing In other news, members of Brazil’s Senate
LNG-by-rail shipments. have voted to approve the basic text of a bill
Elsewhere in the world, there have been dis- designed to enable the further reform of the
ruptions to LNG supply. In Algeria, the port country’s natural gas sector. The legislation
of Arzew, which is home to an LNG complex, has already passed in the lower house of the
had been at a standstill for about 10 days as of National Assembly, which approved it in
December 11 owing to bad weather, according September.

Week 50 16•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9