Page 14 - AsianOil Week 03 2021

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year. Doubts about the 4bn cubic metre (bcm) meaning that it is greatly exposed to asset sei-
per year project have been growing for years, zures and other potential sanctions measures. It
amid Irish authorities’ increasing aversion to the is one of around 20 insurers that is supporting
use of fossil fuels. Nord Stream 2, according to Reuters.
The Cork terminal is the second planned LNG Over in Ukraine, the government is planning
import project in Ireland to be axed. The country’s to cap gas prices for households in a move that
coalition government, established last summer and may further jeopardise the country’s co-op-
consisting of 12 Green Party members, later with- eration with the IMF, Bloomberg reported on Zurich Insurance
drew the 5 bcm per year Shannon LNG import January 13. Kyiv is taking the step to protect
facility from a shortlist of projects eligible for EU household finances at a time when the economy is pulling out of
grants. The fate of that project also looks sealed, is reeling from the impact of the coronavirus the Nord Stream
after the High Court in Ireland in November ruled pandemic. But Ukraine’s lenders are concerned
to annul all its development consents. that the government is backtracking on reform. 2 pipeline as
The UK’s Predator Oil & Gas is also advanc-
ing an FSRU project in Ireland but has insisted it If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping Washington
will not take shale gas supply because of its envi- the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
ronmental impact. click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor. ramps up
sanctions on the
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping GLNG: Transit bottlenecks, project progress
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for Congestion delaying LNG shipments from the project.
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. US to Asia via the Panama Canal is expected to
last for the duration of the winter months, when
FSU: Swiss insurer heeds Nord Stream 2 demand peaks, according to traders cited by
sanctions Reuters. This comes despite the canal’s regulator
Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Group will with- saying it had made changes designed to speed up
draw from Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, transit through the waterway.
sources told Reuters on January 16, as the US The bottleneck is contributing to record-
prepares to slap stricter sanctions on the project. high Asian spot prices, alongside freezing win-
Washington is set to expand its sanctions ter weather and some supply outages. Reuters
regime against the near-complete project within reported that LNG carriers had to wait for up
weeks, after both houses of US Congress over- to two weeks to transit the canal in December.
rode a Trump veto of a defence bill containing However, the canal’s regulatory authority told
the measures. Current sanctions only target the news service that the wait had now halved to
those companies providing pipelaying vessels for one week. Analysts and traders expect the con-
Nord Stream 2, but the US wants to punish those gestion to last until March.
providing technical certification and insurance, Meanwhile, certain LNG developers are
as well as other construction activities such as showing signs of confidence in longer-term
surveying, trenching and rock replacement. demand for the super-chilled fuel. Last week,
The US State Department earlier this month Tellurian’s co-founder and executive chairman,
warned European companies suspected of Charif Souki, said his company was targeting
assisting the project to pull out before it was too this summer to begin construction of the Drift-
late. Zurich has extensive operations in the US, wood LNG terminal in Louisiana.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 21•January•2021