Page 7 - NorthAmOil Week 41

NorthAmOil NRG NorthAmOil

Zelenskiy has promised to fast-track reforms and welcome by the LNG industry more broadly, as
ensure greater independence at state institutions. the sector continues to grapple with oversupply
But Hochstein’s comments – and the resignation that buyers are struggling to absorb. Despite this,
of Ukraine’s central bank governor Yakiv Smolii though, various companies are continuing to
in July over what he said was “sustained political move towards the approval of new liquefaction
pressure” – suggest otherwise. capacity.
Meanwhile, Poland’s competition watchdog Notably, last week US-based NextDecade
UOKiK said on October 7 it had fined the Rus- announced that it would target carbon neutral-
sian gas supplier Gazprom PLN29bn ($7.6bn) ity at its proposed Rio Grande LNG terminal,
for going ahead with Nord Stream 2 without its on which a final investment decision (FID) is
consent. Gazprom’s financing agreements with targeted for 2021. NextDecade said it would use
its European partners effectively established a combination of carbon capture and storage
a de-facto joint venture, the regulator argues, (CCS) and “proprietary processes” to achieve
meaning its approval was needed because of the carbon neutrality at the 27mn tonne per year
pipeline’s impact on the Polish gas market. (tpy) Rio Grande facility. (See: NextDecade tar-
Gazprom has vowed to appeal against the gets carbon neutrality at proposed Rio Grande
decision, setting Poland and Russia on a course LNG project, page 15)
for an arbitration dispute that could last years.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping the global LNG sector then please click here for
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor .
click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor .
Latin America: Permian gas to Mexico
GLNG: Outages and new plans This week’s LatAmOil examines Mexico’s grow-
Equinor’s Melkoeya LNG terminal in Hammer- ing importance as a market for unconventional
fest, Norway is expected to resume output on and associated gas from the US Permian Basin.
January 1, 2021, having gone offline after it was New pipelines are already benefiting CFE, the
damaged in a fire last month, the company said national power provider, by pumping more gas
in a regulatory statement on October 12. The fire to the Mexican domestic markets, and they will
occurred in one of the plant’s electricity-gener- also support the establishment of new export
ating turbines on September 28 and was extin- facilities capable of serving Asian and South
guished the same day. American markets.
This is one of several LNG facilities globally In related news, industry experts believe
to be dealing with an unplanned outage recently. that Mexico’s government may have launched
One of the most notable is Chevron’s Gorgon its annual oil hedging deal. Details are scarce,
LNG terminal in Australia, where one train though, as Mexican officials are working hard
remains offline while cracks in propane heat to keep information about the hedge secret this
exchangers are being repaired. The other two year.
Gorgon trains are scheduled to go offline next Further south, Ecuador’s government is hop-
year – though not both at the same time – and ing to sign another oil-backed loan deal with
will be inspected for similar weld quality issues China in November. According to Rene Ortiz,
to the ones that required repairs in Train 2. the Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable
In the US, meanwhile, Cameron LNG had Natural Resources, Quito intends to use the pro-
only just resumed exports, having been shut ceeds of the $1.4bn credit to restructure some of
down by Hurricane Laura in late August only to its existing debts.
go offline again as Hurricane Delta made land- In Guyana, ExxonMobil (US) has extended
fall on the Louisiana coast. But operator Sempra its contract with Noble Corp. (UK) for the use of
Energy reported on October 12 that it had sus- a drillship known as the Noble Tom Madden at
tained no damage from the latest storm, adding the Stabroek block offshore Guyana. The exten-
that it had been determined that it was safe to sion, which pushes the end date of the contract
restart production at the plant. back from mid-February of 2024 to mid-August
These outages may actually be viewed as of 2030, follows closely on the heels of the US

Week 41 15•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7