Page 11 - GLNG Week 20 2021

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG

Woodside to exit Kitimat LNG

PROJECTS & AUSTRALIA’S Woodside Energy announced new source of LNG to supply Asian markets in
COMPANIES this week that it would exit its 50% non-operated the latter part of this decade. However, we have
interest in the proposed Kitimat LNG project on decided to prioritise the allocation of capital
Canada’s West Coast. to opportunities that will deliver nearer-term
The company will either sell or wind up and shareholder value.”
restore the assets, leases and agreements cover- Woodside said the opportunities O’Neill
ing both the LNG terminal’s site in Bish Cove, was referring to were located in Australia and
British Columbia, and the 480-km Pacific Trail Senegal.
pipeline route. The company expects its 2021 net profit after
This comes roughly two months after oper- tax to take a hit of roughly $40-60mn as a result
ator Chevron said it was ceasing all funding of costs associated with its exit from Kitimat.
for feasibility work on Kitimat LNG. Chevron However, O’Neill said Woodside would retain
had also been trying to sell its 50% stake in the an upstream position in BC’s Liard Basin, which
project, but no buyer has emerged. Indeed, would provide it with a low-cost option to inves-
Woodside had previously tried to sell down its tigate potential future natural gas, ammonia and
Kitimat stake, with no success, but had said in hydrogen opportunities in the province.
March that it had not yet given up on moving the Woodside’s decision represents a blow to
project forward. Canada’s LNG ambitions, even as construction
“Following Chevron’s decision to exit KLNG continues on nearby LNG Canada. Meanwhile,
and subsequent decision in March 2021 to cease two smaller projects are also inching forward.
funding further feasibility work, Woodside Earlier this month, Woodfibre LNG said it had it
undertook a comprehensive review of our signed a second agreement to sell LNG from its
options for the project and our wider develop- proposed 2.1mn tonne per year (tpy) plant to BP.
ment portfolio,” said Woodside’s acting CEO, And Pieridae Energy is targeting a final invest-
Meg O’Neill, in a May 18 statement. “The Kit- ment decision (FID) on its 10mn tpy Goldboro
imat LNG proposal was designed to develop a LNG facility in Nova Scotia by the end of June.™

Peru LNG halts production,

citing compressor problem

PERFORMANCE THE Peru LNG consortium has suspended The group’s members include US-based Hunt
operations at its natural gas liquefaction plant in Oil along with three other companies. Equity is
Pampa Melchorita, citing an issue with one of its divided between Hunt Oil, with 50%; SK Energy
compressors. (South Korea), 20%; Royal Dutch Shell (UK/
Jeanne Phillips, a senior vice-president at Netherlands), 20%, and Marubeni (Japan), 10%.
Hunt Oil, the leader of Peru LNG, confirmed Shell acquired its stake in 2014 and takes 100%
the shutdown last week. In an email to S&P of Peru LNG’s production.
Global Platts, she indicated that the consor- The Pampa Melchorita LNG complex, built
tium had taken the plant offline on or about at a cost of $3.8bn, includes a 4.45mn tonne
May 7. per year (tpy) gas liquefaction plant built by
Phillips said that Peru LNG hoped to resume US-based Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (CBI),
operations in the near future and stressed that along with a marine terminal constructed by
the group was determined to resolve the prob- a consortium known as CDB. (This group
lem with its compressor. “Peru LNG is working includes Italy’s Saipem, Luxemburg’s Jan de Nul
tirelessly to repair the issue and to restore the and Brazil’s Odebrecht.)
plant to full operation by the end of this month,” The complex also includes a storage depot
she wrote. with two 130,000-cubic metre tanks and a
As of press time, it was not clear whether the 34-inch (860-mm) natural gas pipeline. This
consortium would be able to load any cargoes pipeline handles gas from fields in the Cusco
for export this month. Peru LNG typically pro- region that are being developed by YPF, Argen-
duces enough LNG to load four or five cargoes tina’s NOC and Repsol of Spain. The link runs for
per month, but it only loaded three cargoes in 408 km from Chiquintirca, a town in the Ayacu-
April, according to Platts. cho region, to the LNG plant.™

Week 20 21•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11