The Iranian war has prompted LNG buyers and suppliers to seek greater diversity in their supply.
As the US-Israeli war against Iran reduces Gulf shipments, LNG buyers are looking for 'alternatives' to the fuel. These suppliers range from West Africa to Indonesia.
During last week's Gastech Conference, industry executives and officials said that while Asian governments are looking to lock in LNG sellers who have access to different sources, producers and trading companies want to expand supply pools by buying from other countries and taking stakes on gas projects.
Sue-Ern Tan of the International Energy Agency regional cooperation center in Singapore said that many governments were thinking about diversifying their suppliers and supply routes.
Diversification could help projects outside the US and Qatar. These two countries dominate planned capacity increases, despite Qatar's LNG infrastructure being damaged in the early war.
Bandhit Thamprajamchit is the chief operating officer for PTT's upstream petroleum business. He said that PTT will be looking at Oman, North America, and West Africa as sources of supplies.
On Friday, its trading arm signed a long-term supply deal with Equinor of Norway.
Bangladesh relied on Qatar to import the majority of its LNG before the Iran War. Bangladesh's Iqbal Hasan Mahamud, the power minister, told the conference that they are now looking to?Indonesia and Australia, as well as China.
Early on in the Iran War, Asian state energy purchasers were forced to purchase replacement cargoes at the spot market. PetroChina and India's GAIL could have shifted to another region for replacement supply but they would have had to pay a premium to do so.
Tom Summers said that despite the loss of 36,000,000 metric tons from the Middle East this year, the net loss is only around 5,000,000 tons or 1%-1.5%, of the global supply.
He said that an additional 70-80 new LNG vessels per year would also provide a?greater shipping flexibility.
According to conference speakers, high LNG prices and the demand for diversified supplies have increased the prospects of new "producers" such as Argentina, East Timor, and Tanzania.
East Timor is planning two greenfield LNG facilities, one for the Greater Sunrise gas field, which has been delayed, and another 1.5 million ton facility that will take the 'leftover gas' from Bayu-Undan. Energy Minister Francisco da Costa Monteiro said.
SPREADING CAPITAL AND RISK
Takayuki?Ueda, CEO of Japanese energy company Inpex, stated that upstream companies are now focused on portfolio resilience, portfolio diversification and diversifications of supply sources.
Ueda stated that Inpex was focused on developing the Abadi field in Indonesia. An investment decision is expected to be made by mid-2027. Inpex wants to diversify in the long term by entering the Americas including the US, Brazil, and perhaps Brazil.
Paul Marsden of Bechtel said that he believes new supplies will come from East Africa through projects such as ExxonMobil's Rovuma and TotalEnergies’ Rovuma in Saudi Arabia, the Americas and East Africa.
(source: Reuters)
