Page 9 - AfrOil Week 02 2021

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GLNG: Ups and downs in Australia the global LNG sector then please click here for
LNG-related news from Australia has been NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor.
mixed in recent days. Chevron said last week
that an inspection of Train 1 at its Gorgon LNG LatAmOil: Bolivian opportunities
project in Western Australia had resulted in weld UK-based Echo Energy has signed a co-opera-
quality issues being identified. These are similar tion agreement with Bolivia’s GTL International,
to the weld quality issues that kept Train 2 at a subsidiary of UruboCorp.
Gorgon offline for months in 2020, and are likely The two companies have pledged to work
to take at least several weeks to repair. together to promote, identify and develop new
The discovery has raised expectations that opportunities in the South American country’s
Train 3 will also have similar issues that will need hydrocarbon and renewable energy sectors.
to be dealt with once Train 1 is returned to ser- They have also agreed to grant each other a six-
vice. Chevron has not said how long it expects to month period of exclusivity. LNG spot prices
take to carry out repairs on Train 1. So far, Echo has not said whether it is inter- in Northeast
The faulty welds affect propane heat exchang- ested in any specific projects in Bolivia. However,
ers – also known as kettles – that are used in the it has said it believes changing conditions in that Asia have risen
liquefaction process. The Australian Financial country have served to open up a “window of
Review reported that all of the kettles across opportunity” for new investments. Additionally, on seasonal
Gorgon’s three trains were manufactured by the it has highlighted UruboCorp’s experience in the
same company in South Korea. local energy sector, saying it hoped to benefit winter demand
The prolonged outage at Train 1 comes as from its association with the Bolivian company. and some supply
LNG spot prices in Northeast Asia have risen on Changing conditions may also be a factor in
seasonal winter demand and some supply short- EIG Energy Partners’ decision to sell a 27.5% shortages
ages. But the impact of the outages at Gorgon is stake in TBG, the operator of the Brazilian sec-
somewhat limited by Chevron only taking one tion of GASBOL, a pipeline built to pump Boliv-
train at a time offline for maintenance. ian natural gas to the Brazilian market, for an
Royal Dutch Shell, meanwhile, had more unspecified sum. GASBOL has been operating
positive news to report as it returned its giant below capacity for some time, as Brazil has been
Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) project to service. importing less Bolivian fuel.
The facility – the largest floating structure ever The sale is not indicative of any loss of interest
built – had been offline for around a year owing in the Brazilian gas sector on EIG’s part, how-
to a technical disruption to its diesel genera- ever. The US-based investment fund said in a
tors, which illustrates the complexity of FLNG press release announcing the sale that it wanted
technology. to expand its involvement in Brazilian gas pro-
Analysts have said that the remote location jects and hoped to work with Fluxys to achieve
of the Prelude facility, 475 km off Australia’s west this goal.
coast, as well as restrictions related to the corona-
virus (COVID-19) pandemic have complicated If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Shell’s efforts to restart operations. Nonetheless, the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click
the super-major said that as Prelude is a mul- here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor.
ti-decade project, its focus in on sustained per-
formance over the long term. MEOG: Saudi Arabia takes charge
However, Shell has backed out of other FLNG Saudi Arabia has signalled to the oil market that
projects, as have other producers, likely deterred it does not need consensus from its OPEC part-
by having witnessed the challenges at Prelude. ners to make major moves, while its regional
nemesis Iran continues to award contracts in
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping pursuit of higher oil production.

Week 02 13•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9