Page 16 - AsianOil Week 35

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inspections of the nearby Cameron LNG termi-
nal. These initial assessments indicated that the
facility had sustained “minimal flooding and no
catastrophic wind damage”, Sempra said.
No date for a restart of Cameron LNG has been
provided, though the company said full operations
would be restored “as soon as safely practicable”.
Despite the disruptions caused by Hurricane
Laura, US LNG exports are gathering steam after
a significant slowdown over the summer. In a
different part of the US – in Georgia – Kinder
Morgan was reported to be loading its first cargo
in seven months from the Elba Island LNG
terminal.
The Maran Gas Hector LNG tanker
arrived at the facility last week, in a boost to Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG facility.
Kinder Morgan after a lull in exports from
Elba Island amid a downturn in demand. In Colombia, the head of a local industry
The company also brought its tenth – and group has said that the country’s hydrocarbon
final – small-scale liquefaction train online sector may be able to attract hundreds of millions
at the terminal last week. of dollars from private companies before the end
With Elba Island fully online, the first wave of 2020. According to Francisco José Lloreda, the
of US LNG export capacity construction is now president of the Colombian Petroleum Associa-
complete. A second wave is under way, also pri- tion (ACP), private investors are willing to make
marily on the Gulf Coast. Indeed, the two pro- about $715mn available for the development of
jects under construction currently – Venture oil and gas projects. This funding could play a
Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG and ExxonMobil crucial role in the revival of the hydrocarbon sec-
and Qatar Petroleum’s (QP) Golden Pass LNG tor and help jump-start the country’s economy,
both had to provide updates in the wake of Hur- Lloreda said last week.
ricane Laura passing through the area. Neither
site is reported to have been significantly affected If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
by the storm. the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click
here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
the global LNG sector then please click here for Drilling, discoveries and deals in the Mid-
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. dle East
Iran announced this week that local firm Pet-
Latin America: Investors play up potential ropars would soon begin drilling at South
Investors in several South American countries Pars Phase 11, the project that was awarded to
are eager to push ahead with new projects. French super-major Total and China’s CNPC
In Guyana, ExxonMobil is pressing the under an integrated petroleum contract (IPC).
administration of Irfaan Ali, the country’s The partners withdrew from the project in
new president, to give a green light to plans August 2018 and October 2019 respectively,
for the development of another section of leaving Petropars to go it alone. With Iran
the Stabroek block. The government had said determined to press ahead with projects to
previously that it expected to finish a review raise oil and gas production capacity, drilling
of the US super-major’s field development is now set to begin by the end of the autumn
plan (FDP) for the Payara project in time to at SP11, with gas expected to reach onshore
approve it before the end of August. Last week, facilities in the next 12 months.
though, Natural Resources Minister Vikram On the other side of the Gulf, Saudi Ara-
Bharrat said the deadline was being pushed mco has reported the discovery of two new
back by a few days. oil and gas fields in the north-east of the
In Brazil, plans for leasing out the Bahia country. Though they are comparatively
LNG terminal have drawn strong interest miniscule by Saudi standards, the finds
from Golar LNG. The head of the Bermu- offer a ‘good news’ story for Aramco during
da-based company, which has already been what has so far been an incredibly challeng-
authorised by the national oil company ing year. The company will now carry out
(NOC) Petrobras to participate in the bid- further appraisal work to establish reserve
ding contest for the lease, stated last week levels and development plans.
that his company was eager to work in Brazil Following the announcement of a handful
as the country’s natural gas industry opened of deals between US firms and the Iraq govern-
up to outside investors. ment last week, Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG)

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 03•September•2020