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Hopes remain for LNG import potential before achieving financial close on the project
There is increasing pessimism over the appetite late this year. Construction is also currently
for new LNG export projects, but on the import under way on Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass
side, new opportunities are still being explored. LNG project, also in Louisiana.
Indeed, importers may stand to benefit from a
growing variety of options for sourcing their If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
LNG supply, as well as low prices for the fuel. the global LNG sector then please click here for
Under these circumstances, countries that are NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.
ramping up their LNG imports may find it easier
to attract foreign investors. Middle Eastern malaise
Last week, it was reported that ExxonMo- Last week, focus was on the much anticipated
bil was considering investing in new LNG-to- OPEC+ meeting to consider and agree oil pro-
power projects in Vietnam. A statement from duction cuts beyond the end of June. The dust
the Vietnamese government suggested that is settling on that meeting and there are many
there was potential to invest in a 4,000-MW pieces to pick up and look at this week. The global
LNG-to-power plant in the northern port city of The first signs of how Iraq may find its way oversupply of
Haiphong, or a 3,000-MW plant in the Mekong out of the competing demands of cutting its
Delta province of Long An. oil production to meet the OPEC quota, bal- LNG continues
The government added that the plants could ancing its budget and finding agreement with
use LNG imported from the US or elsewhere. It the various international oil companies (IOCs) to weigh on
suggested that a plant in Haiphong could start operating in the country are being seen. It is not
generating power at some point between 2025 difficult to predict that there will be many twists the market and
and 2030. and turns on the road ahead. depress prices
The LNG industry is hoping that the market One country which is not affected by the
will have rebalanced by this point, with excess OPEC quota scheme but has been massively hit
supply being absorbed and demand rising again. by the underlying economic malaise is Lebanon.
Currently, the global oversupply of LNG contin- It is not so long ago since its government was
ues to weigh on the market and depress prices. setting out its stall by predicting significant oil
The US Energy Information Administration and gas finds; the first search – in Block 4 – has
(EIA) has predicted that exports of US LNG will found no potentially commercial reservoirs but
have dropped by 60% in July from their peak in a second search is due to follow later this year.
January. However, events on the ground – such as massive
Meanwhile, Total’s president of gas, renew- unemployment and poverty followed by protests
ables and power, Philippe Sauquet, has warned and clashes – threaten to undermine the coun-
that the cancellation of a growing number of car- try’s efforts to find green shoots in its energy and
goes scheduled for loading this summer should tourism sectors.
serve as a warning that new LNG projects will A notable event is the progress of integration
not automatically be profitable. moves in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where QP and
Not that all LNG exporters in the US have Aramco have announced efforts to strengthen
been deterred. On June 15, US regulators their presence in their respective petrochemical
approved Venture Global LNG’s request to pro- businesses.
ceed with limited site preparation for its pro-
posed Plaquemines LNG terminal in Louisiana. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
The company said it was planning to start early the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click
construction work on Plaquemines in mid-2020 here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor.

Week 24 18•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9