Wave of New LNG Export Plants Threatens to Knock Gas Prices
A flood of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects due online worldwide in mid-decade will vie against lower-cost renewable energy and a revived nuclear power sector, which could rock gas prices and hurt some proposed projects, analysts say.Proposed and approved new LNG plants would boost LNG supply by 67% increase to 636 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030 from 2021 levels, potentially saturating the gas market."There's over a trillion dollars of natural gas infrastructure being built in the world today.
Enbridge to Buy US Gulf Coast Gas Storage Facility
Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc said on Wednesday it would buy a gas storage facility in the U.S. Gulf Coast region from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Crestwood Equity Partners for $335 million.The Tres Palacios gas storage facility serves gas-fired power generation in Texas and Mexico.The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.The pipeline operator also said it has decided to proceed with the construction of the Enbridge Houston Oil Terminal for an initial capital cost of $240 million.(Reuters - Reporting by Sourasis Bose; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
Gas Prices Soar in Europe on Tight Russian Supply
European gas prices soared more than 30% on Tuesday as low supplies from Russia reignited concerns about an energy crunch as the region heads for colder weather.A key pipeline which normally delivers gas from Siberia to Europe continued to work in reverse on Tuesday, traders said, sending flows from Germany to Poland, while supplies of Russian gas from Ukraine to Slovakia were also subdued.Russian energy exports have been in the spotlight amid the country's broader standoff with the West…
NYK Signs Multi-Year Deal with GAIL (India) Limited for Charter of LNG Carrier
NYK signed a multi-year time-charter contract with GAIL (India) Limited, India's largest natural gas company, for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier. Grace Emilia, the vessel that will be chartered, is equipped with a WinGD-made dual-fuel slow-speed X-DF diesel engine, a unit that has superior fuel-consumption efficiency and can operate on marine gas oil or boil off gas stored in the cargo tank. The vessel also features a re-liquefaction system that can use re-liquefied excess boil-off gas and return it to the cargo tank.The cargo tank has a 174,000 cu.
ODE Selected as Duty Holder at Babbage Platform
Offshore service provider ODE, part of DORIS Group, has won a duty holder contract from NEO Energy (NEO) for the Babbage field in the Southern North Sea."This is a significant ODE milestone as the first installation and pipeline operator (duty holder) appointment in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS)," ODE said Monday. The company has said it has previously acted as an operations and maintenance provider since the project phase and transitioned the platform from normally manned to not normally manned status in recent years."ODE’s continued involvement in Babbage is important business continuity for NEO Energy…
Oxy Slashing Jobs 'Significantly'
Occidental Petroleum Corp said on Wednesday it would begin dismissing workers in a new cost-cutting move following its $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum.The company has already "significantly" cut staff through a voluntary program, spokeswoman Melissa Schoeb said in an email. She did not respond to requests for information about the number of employees to be cut or any potential charge to earnings.The combined company had about 16,000 workers when it merged.Occidental has been selling assets and cutting costs since it outbid Chevron Corp last year for Anadarko…
Kinder Morgan's Elba Island LNG up by mid-2020: CEO
Kinder Morgan expects to bring the remaining nine units of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Elba Island into service by the first half of next year, Chief Executive Officer Steven Kean said on Wednesday.The first unit of Kinder Morgan's Elba Island facility began producing LNG natural gas for export last month, and is one of several new U.S. projects adding to global supplies.The Houston pipeline operator plans to bring three more into service this year, with another six to start up in the first half of 2020…
Plans for Israeli Gas Exports to Egypt on Track
Plans to start exporting gas from Israel to Egypt are on track but further steps are still needed before exports can commence, Egyptian petroleum minister Tarek El Molla said on Monday."Everything is agreed on ... countries (involved) have already given their blessings. There is no issue in that," Molla told reporters during an energy conference in UAE's Abu Dhabi."It's a multilateral deal, a gas deal and a pipeline deal so it is a little bit a lengthy process.
GA LNG Terminal Evacuated Ahead of Dorian
Kinder Morgan Inc has halted the startup process of its liquefaction facility at Elba Island near Savannah, Georgia, following mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Dorian approached, Chief Executive Officer Steven Kean said on Wednesday.The Houston pipeline operator began construction on the $2 billion facility in late 2016, underpinned by a 20-year contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc for exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG).The company will resume startup operations at the LNG plant when workers can safely return to the island…
Kinder Morgan Invest $170Mln in Houston Ship Channel
Houston pipeline operator Kinder Morgan (KMI) plans to invest $170 million in various expansion projects along the Houston Ship Channel.The investment will increase efficiency, add product liquidity, and enhance blending capabilities at its Pasadena and Galena Park terminals, part of its best-in-class refined products storage hub on the Houston Ship Channel, said the energy infrastructure company in North America.In response to growing customer demand, KMI’s liquids terminal platform now boasts 10 ship docks…
Trafigura Started Crude Shipments via U.S. Pipeline Cactus II
Global commodities trader Trafigura has started shipments of Permian basin crude to the Corpus Christi oil hub in Texas via the newly operational Cactus II pipeline system, the company said in a statement on Monday.Trafigura signed a long-term agreement with pipeline operator Plains All American Pipeline LP last year to transport a total of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and condensate on the pipeline.The Cactus II Pipeline system will have the ability to transport 670,000 bpd. (Reporting By Julia Payne; editing by David Evans)
Enterprise Products to Build GoM Crude Terminal
Enterprise Products Partners LP said on Wednesday it expects to take about two years to construct its oil export project called Sea Port Oil Terminal, or SPOT, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.Permitting for the terminal was expected to reach the final stages by the end of the first quarter of 2020 and final approval was expected during the second quarter, a company executive said on its second quarter earnings call.Enterprise Products signed long-term agreements with Chevron Corp to support the development of SPOT…
Enterprise, Chevron to Build Offshore Port
Pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners signed long-term agreements with Chevron Corp to develop Enterprise’s Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) in the Gulf of Mexico.The American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company said in a release that its SPOT project consists of onshore and offshore facilities, including a fixed platform located approximately 30 nautical miles off the Brazoria County, Texas coast in approximately 115 feet of water.SPOT is designed to load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) at rates of approximately 85…
Tainted Oil Set for Russian Refineries, Ports After Dilution
More than a million tonnes of contaminated oil from Russia's Druzhba ("Friendship") pipeline, expected to be shipped back from Belarus, will end up at Russian refineries and export ports after being diluted to usable levels, sources have told Reuters.The pipeline was halted in April after excessive levels of organic chloride used in oil extraction were found on the million-barrel-per-day pipeline that crosses Belarus and serves customers as far west as Germany.Pipeline operator Transneft…
Kinder Morgan's $1.75 bln Gas Pipeline Hit with Steel Tariff
U.S. pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Inc will pay a tariff on imported steel used in a $1.75 billion natural gas pipeline project, the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled on Monday, dealing a setback to energy industry efforts to avoid the penalties.The tariff could add up to $80 million to the construction cost of Kinder Morgan's Gulf Coast Express Pipeline, analysts estimated, because about half the project employs some Turkish pipe subject to a 50 percent tariff. It filed for an exemption nearly a year ago, citing the lack of domestic steel and the economic benefits to natural gas exports.
Sunoco Pipeline to Pay $5.4 mln for Oil Spills
Pipeline operator Sunoco Pipeline LP has agreed to pay roughly $5.4 million to settle claims over crude oil spills from 2013 to 2015 in three U.S. states, the U.S.
Enterprise Products Texas Crude Pipeline to Begin Limited Service
Enterprise Products Partners LP's repurposed natural gas liquids pipeline in the Permian Basin will begin limited operations to carry crude oil in February to the U.S. Gulf Coast, the company said on Thursday.The Houston pipeline operator has begun the process of converting its Seminole NGL pipeline to begin carrying more than 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) from West Texas next month for a third party with a long-term contract, CEO James Teague said in a conference call. (Reuters, Reporting by Collin Eaton Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Offshore Terminal Plan Slowed by U.S. Shutdown
The U.S. government shutdown has delayed Enterprise Products Partners LP's plan to build a major U.S. crude export terminal off Houston, blocking the pipeline operator from filing paperwork with U.S. regulators, an executive said on Wednesday.Enterprise plans to file a 10,000-page permit application with the U.S. Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard as soon as the U.S. government reopens. It takes about a year for regulators to process an application for a deep-water terminal."Tell me when the government opens and I'll tell you when it happens…
US Oil Export Boom Sparks Battle to Build Texas Ports
Booming U.S. oil exports have set off a scramble to build Gulf Coast ports to handle more than 3 million barrels per day in new supplies expected over the next five years.Of seven proposed oil-export projects, nowhere is the opportunity greater or the competition more fierce than in Corpus Christi, Texas, where three firms are vying to open the state's first deepwater port.Commodities trader Trafigura has taken an early lead with a planned offshore facility that has an easier path to regulatory…
Petrobras Nears Terms Over TAG Pipeline Sale
Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro could present a new sale and purchase agreement (SPA) before the end of December for the sale of the Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG) pipeline, after a Brazilian Supreme Court injunction in July stalled the sale.The sale of TAG, which operates natural gas pipelines in Brazil’s north and northeast, could fetch Petrobras as much as US$7bn, in one of the company’s largest-ever asset sales, three sources familiar with the process said.
