Page 9 - AsianOil Week 36

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Chegini said: “We would like our brothers from India to be much more active in Chabahar. India is serious, but whatever China is spending and work- ing in Gwadar is not comparing with India.”
While the ambassador was calling for deeper ties between the two nations, regional rival Saudi Arabia was busy undermining Tehran’s bargain- ing power. Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted on September 9 that newly appointed Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had assured him during a meeting in Jeddah that his country would remain a reliable supplier.
“Saudi Minister reiterated Saudi Arabia’s commitment to remain a reliable and sustaina- ble partner in hydrocarbon supplies and also on Saudi investments in India,” Pradhan said.
Later that day, Pradhan travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and met President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. After the engage- ment, he tweeted: “Had a healthy exchange on further deepening bilateral trade and investment in the energy sector. Also discussed enhancing India’s upstream footprints in UAE and mutual investments in the entire oil and gas value chain in both our countries.”™
Gunvor bids low in Pakistani LNG tender
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
GUNVOR has reportedly emerged as the lowest bidder for most of the cargoes in Pakistan’s recent spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply tender.
The commodity trader has submitted the lowest bids for six of the 10 cargoes to be deliv- ered between October and December, Reuters has said citing a document from state-run Paki- stan LNG. The state company declares lowest bidders rather than tender winners.
DXT Commodities, Vitol, PetroChina and Socar Trading are understood to be the lowest bidders for the other cargoes. The companies will deliver four cargoes in October, two in Novem- ber and the rest in December.
The prices in the tender ranged from 8.3% to 10.9% of Brent crude oil prices, which Reu- ters calculated would equate to $4.98-6.54 per mmBtu ($137.75-180.9 per 1,000 cubic metres) at current international oil prices.
Spot prices have waned in recent years as producers in Australia and the US have com- missioned new plants. This in turn has placed some pressure on long-term LNG supply con- tracts, with Montel reporting on September 9 that Korea Gas (KOGAS) had received bids in a recent tender equivalent to $7 mmBtu ($193.62 per 1,000 cubic metres) at current oil prices. This compared with contracts reportedly signed for
around $11 mmBtu ($304.26 per 1,000 cubic metres).
“What the spot is doing is, it’s influencing the contract market – contracts today are 30% below where they were during the boom years,” Credit Suisse’s head of oil and gas research in Australia, Saul Kavonic, said.
In 2018, Pakistan received 6.86mn tonnes of LNG, up from 4.62mn tonnes in 2017. Given the country’s gas needs, if more capacity can be secured, there is scope for imports to rise sub- stantially. Wood Mackenzie has forecast LNG demand will expand to 11mn tonnes in 2025 and 17.5mn tonnes in 2035, making “Pakistan the 8th largest global market. There is also upside to our forecast.”
Pakistan has two FSRUs moored at Port Qasim. There has been discussion of a third FSRU in the country, potentially starting up in 2020. The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) approved the plan in early July, in rec- ognition of the country’s gas shortages. Talks between companies and the government have only made slow progress, however, amid con- cerns of competition.
ExxonMobil had been interested in backing an FSRU plan in the country but dropped out, marking a major setback for expanding Paki- stan’s import capacity.™
Week 36 11•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P9