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week that Engie had delayed signing a deal with field, said in October it had beefed up security at
NextDecade following pressure from the French its infrastructure in the country.
government – which has a 23.6% stake in the Over in Russia, the government is talking
utility – to seek cleaner supplies instead. up prospects for exporting hydrogen to Japan.
The French government banned domes- Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin
tic hydraulic fracturing in 2011 and has since recently told Japan’s Nikkei that Russia aims to
expressed misgivings over importing gas that export 2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of hydrogen
is produced using the technique. And such gas, by 2035. He said that Russia was already hold-
produced from shale formations and involving ing negotiations on hydrogen exports with the
the use of fracking, is what US LNG export ter- Japanese government, as well as Kawasaki Heavy
minals are using for feedstock. Industries and other Japanese companies.
Engie’s exit from talks comes as a blow to
NextDecade, which is trying to secure offtake If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
agreements for an additional 9mn tonnes per the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
year of LNG in order to reach a final investment click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor.
decision (FID). This is in addition to the 2mn tpy
deal the company already has for Rio Grande.. GLNG: Asia’s ups and downs
The first Chinese deal to buy US LNG since the
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping trade war started between the two countries has
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for been announced. The deal, unveiled by Foran
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. Energy Group, is comparatively small but is seen
as a sign of confidence in relations between the US
Azerbaijan bullish on SGC and China normalising.
Despite a ceasfire with neighbouring Arme- Foran said it had signed an agreement to buy 26
nia having only just been reached, Azerbaijan cargoes of LNG from leading US exporter Cheniere
remains adamant that it will begin piping gas to Energy between 2021 and 2025. Prices under the
Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) deal, which was struck during the annual trade fair
shortly. in Shanghai, will be linked to the US’ Henry Hub
An official at Azerbaijan’s national oil firm benchmark.
SOCAR said last week that the Trans-Adri- The deal comes shortly after the PipeChina nat-
atic Pipeline (TAP), that runs from the Turk- ural gas project was completed in the third quarter
ish-Greek border to Italy, would be ready in just of this year, allowing third-party access to Chinese
two weeks. Once in full operation, the pipeline LNG terminals and natural gas pipelines, according
will carry 10bn cubic metres per year of gas to to comments from Cheniere’s executive vice-pres-
European customers. It should reach that peak ident and chief commercial officer, Anatol Feygin.
in 2023. He added on his company’s third-quarter earnings
Fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Kara- call that Cheniere did “not see this as a one-off”.
bakh region has been going on for six weeks, Chinese buyers stopped signing longer-term
raising concerns about the security of oil and supply contracts with US LNG producers in 2018,
gas pipelines in Azerbaijan. Armenia has several after Beijing introduced retaliatory tariffs on ship-
times denied Azeri claims that it has targeted ments of the super-chilled fuel from the US amid
these pipelines with shelling. BP, which leads the an escalating trade war. The tariff was subsequently
consortium developing Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz raised from 10% initially to 25% in June 2019.

Azerbaijan expects to
start pumping gas to
Europe within weeks.

Week 45 12•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15