Page 5 - AsianOil Week 34 2021

AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil

target of 680,000-705,000 bpd and gas lifting however, announcing last week that it had
at 987,000-1mn boepd,” local daily Bisnis secured continued financial support from the
quoted him as saying. State-owned Banks Association (HIMBARA)
SKK Migas deputy for planning Benny for upstream projects.
Lubiantara blamed the lacklustre performance The regulator’s head, Dwi Soetjipto, said
on operational delays owing to the coronavi- on August 22 that competition for investment
rus (COVID-19) pandemic. He said the target financing in the energy sector was ramping up
would be difficult to hit because of delays to as international oil companies (IOCs) started to
planned drilling programmes this year, telling invest in the renewable energy sector. He added:
the daily: “If 705,000 bpd is missed, maybe “Besides being a challenge, this is an opportu-
production can reach 680,000 bpd by the end nity for the national banking industry and other
of the year.” local sources of financing to take a larger portion
The regulator has previously said the coun- of upstream oil and gas investment. Upstream
try’s oil and gas production in the first half oil and gas financing needs of around INR200
of this year amounted to 1.63mn boepd, or trillion [$19.14bn] can be secured from national
95.6% of the 2021 target. SKK Migas contin- banks whose financing capacity was around
ues to look for ways to support the upstream, INR5,482.5 trillion [$524.76bn] in 2020.”™

EAST ASIA

Sinopec completes Qingdao

LNG terminal expansion

PROJECTS & CHINA’S state-run Sinopec has finished the
COMPANIES first stage of expansion work at its Qingdao
liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility in
Shandong Province.
The company said on August 24 that it had
finished building two 160,000 cubic metre stor-
age tanks, expanding the terminal’s handling
capacity by 17% from 6mn tonnes per year to
7mn tpy. Work on the project began in Novem-
ber 2018.
Sinopec added that it intended to further
expand the terminal’s capacity to 14mn tpy
by end of 2023, making it the country’s largest
import facility at that point.
The expansion comes just a few months
ahead of the country’s winter heating period,
when demand will begin to pick up and the pros- Chinese demand for LNG is expected to
pect of supply shortages increases. remain strong for the rest of the year despite spot
China’s LNG imports climbed by 13.7% year market prices hovering around the $15.50 per
on year in July to 5.67mn tonnes, according to mmBtu ($428.73 per 1,000 cubic metre) mark.
General Administration of Customs (GAC) China’s utilities strive to stockpile supplies ahead
data published on August 18. Imports in the first of peak winter demand.
seven months of the year climbed by 25.3% on The average price for October delivery into
the year to 45.25mn tonnes. Northeast Asia was estimated at around $15.50
China’s piped gas imports rose by 58.5% in per mmBtu, Reuters cited unnamed industry
July to 3.67mn tonnes and by 21.6% in the first sources as saying on August 20.
seven months to 23.71mn tonnes. This, however, is a far cry from the record
LNG imports have grown at a faster pace highs noted in January, when prices hit $30
this year than in 2020, when shipments per mmBtu ($829.8 per 1,000 cubic metres).
climbed by just 11.1% y/y to 60.7mn tonnes. As such, Chinese buyers are willing to pay now
Pipeline imports actually shrank by 4.9% to in the hopes of being able to avoid entering the
34.5mn tonnes. market when prices are even higher.™

Week 34 26•August•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5