Page 11 - AsianOil Week 11 2022

AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil

Thailand’s PTTEP confirms move

to become Yadana operator

PROJECTS & THAILAND’S PTT Exploration and Production continuity with safety standard[s].”
COMPANIES (PTTEP) has confirmed that it will take over as “Under the production operating agreement
operator at Myanmar’s offshore Yadana gas field (POA), TotalEnergies’ share will be allocated
in July. This follows the withdrawal of TotalEner- proportionately to the remaining joint venture
gies from the project owing to the deteriorating partners with no commercial value,” the state-
human rights situation in the country under a ment said. “After the effective date of TotalEn-
military junta that seized power a year ago. ergies’ withdrawal, PTTEP will hold 37.0842%
PTTEP said in a statement released on March participating interest, while a subsidiary of
14 that it placed the “utmost importance on con- Chevron, Unocal Myanmar Offshore Company
tinuity in gas production and preventing dis- Limited, will hold 41.1016%, which is the largest
ruption to energy demand, since [the] Yadana participating interest in the project.”
project is a pivotal source of natural gas supply Earlier this year a number of foreign energy
to the livelihood of the people in both Myanmar companies said they would be leaving Myan-
and Thailand.” mar because of human rights violations. These
Current production at Yadana is around include Chevron, Mitsubishi, Petronas, Shell and
770mn cubic feet (21.8mn cubic metres) per day. Woodside.
Of this, 220 mmcf (6.23 mcm) per day goes to PTTEP is also a shareholder in the Yetagun
Myanmar and accounts for 50% of gas demand gas project with a consortium comprised of the
directed to power generation. Thailand receives Japanese government and JX Nippon Oil & Gas.
550 mmcf (15.6 mcm) per day of Yadana gas, Petronas and Mitsubishi have pulled out of this
which is supplied to 12 power generation facil- project.
ities that provide power to 11mn people in west- A human rights campaign in Europe
ern and central Thailand. prompted the EU to introduce additional sanc-
PTTEP said the operatorship transfer had tions against the junta earlier this year. Activists
been approved by the other partners in the pro- argued that the military would use the revenues
ject and requires the full support of TotalEnergies from natural gas sales to further suppress Myan-
“to assure seamless transition and production mar’s citizens.™
EAST ASIA

China resells US LNG cargoes to Europe

PROJECTS & CHINA is reported to have resold a handful of LNG cargoes, as previously reported resales were
COMPANIES US LNG cargoes to Europe as price trends and shipped – or are still due to be shipped – from
Russia’s war in Ukraine continue to reroute trade China.
flows. European gas typically trades at a discount The tender came after European gas prices
to LNG in North Asia, but the reversal of this is surged to record highs on fears of a disruption
prompting changes of plans among buyers and in Russian gas flows to the continent. Prices
sellers of LNG as well. then declined as flows remained stable, and
Citing traders familiar with the matter, Asian LNG price trends have tracked Euro-
Bloomberg reported on March 15 that state- pean gas prices. Unipec held the tender despite
The cargoes are due owned Sinopec, via its Unipec trading arm, had Beijing calling on Chinese importers to secure
to be loaded from the sold at least three cargoes for delivery between more fuel on concerns over war-related supply
Calcasieu Pass LNG now and June to European buyers. The cargoes disruptions.
terminal in the coming were sold through a tender that closed late last Indeed, the risk of disruption remains high.
weeks. week, according to the traders. However, given its proximity to the war and its
This marks the continuation of a trend that reliance on Russian gas, Europe finds itself more
emerged at the start of this year, whereby Chi- vulnerable to potential gas flow interruptions.
nese oil and gas companies are seeking to resell In the longer term, the European Union is com-
excess cargoes of LNG in markets where they mitted to dramatically reducing its dependence
would fetch a higher price. on Russian gas, which could help drive further
The shipments are due to be loaded from the gas price increases. And if gas prices are sig-
Calcasieu Pass terminal on the US Gulf Coast, nificantly higher in Europe over the coming
operated by Venture Global LNG, with which months and beyond, Sinopec and other Chinese
Sinopec has an offtake agreement. This repre- buyers could seek to resell more of their sched-
sents a new development in Chinese resales of uled LNG cargoes.™

Week 11 18•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11