NGS’ NG/LNG SNAPSHOT – Dec 16-31, 2022
National News Internatonal News
NATIONAL NEWS
City Gas Distribution & Auto LPG
Piped natural gas project makes headway in Kadapa district
The ambitious project to bring every household into Piped Natural Gas (PNG) grid is steadily making headway in Kadapa district.
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PNG, said to be a convenient, economical, clean and safe fuel for domestic consumers, will be supplied uninterruptedly to every connected premises.
AG&P Pratham, which secured the licence from Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to exclusively provide natural gas for daily use in 35 districts across the country, is executing the project in Kadapa, Anantapur, Sri Satya Sai, Chittoor, Annamayya, Tirupati and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The company plans to cover 50,000 households in Kadapa city and the adjoining mandals, of which over 12,000 households have already registered for the same.
AG&P Pratham has established its own LCNG station at Putlampalli on the city outskirts to ensure 24×7 supply to domestic, industrial and commercial (hotels and restaurants) segments.
There are ten CNG stations in the composite Kadapa district, most of them operational, at Kadapa, Vontimitta, Pulivendula, Rayachoti, Proddatur, Railway Kodur and Vempalli.
The company plans to achieve a total of fourteen CNG stations in the district and take it to 52 by 2028. The impressive network of CNG stations, which form part of the larger gas-based ecosystem, facilitates seamless travel for CNG vehicles.
CNG stations are coming up on all major routes, viz., those leading towards Tirupati, Nellore,
Hyderabad and Bengaluru. For example, a four-wheeler travelling from Hyderabad to Tirupati is assured of uninterrupted CNG supply, thanks to this grid.
Industrial supply is also considered an important component, apart from automobile, domestic and commercial verticals, to ensure clean energy.
“With industry in the form of cement factories thriving in the district, we are planning to lay a
10KM-long steel pipeline and connect fifteen industrial units”, AG&P Pratham’s Regional Manager (Anantapur and Kadapa) A. Venkatesh told The Hindu.
Though the price of CNG for domestic connections is regulated by the government, consumers can expect better savings against the LPG, which is currently the main source of cooking gas.
In one year from now, Mr. Venkatesh projects an expansion rate of achieving 18,000 household connections and 25-30 CNG stations in Kadapa district alone.
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BPCL to lay network, build, operate 8 city gas distribution projects with Rs 35,355-cr
investment
Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) on Dec 21 said its board of directors had approved the financial plan and capital expenditure for laying the piped gas network, and building and operating of eight city gas distribution (CGD) projects for an estimated investment of Rs 35,355 crore.
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According to the statement shared by BPCL with stock exchanges, the company is authorised to undertake the projects “under PNGRB (Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board) CGD Bid Round 11 and 11A with an estimated investment of Rs 35,355 crore in a phased manner”.
The said projects would be subject to the requisite approvals of statutory authorities of government of India, the company said. Accordingly, the company said it was now developing a CGD network in 25 geographical areas including the above CGDs, covering 62 districts in 14 states.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
It operates three refineries in Bina, Kochi and Mumbai.BPCL is India’s second-largest government-owned downstream oil producer, whose operations are overseen by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. It was ranked 309th on the 2020 Fortune list of the world’s biggest public sector undertakings, and 792nd on Forbes’s 2021 “Global 2000” list.( With inputs from ANI )Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
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Natural Gas/ Pipelines/ Company News
Sh. Amit Garg appointed Director (Marketing) of HPCL
Sh. Amit Garg has been appointed on the Board of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) as Director (Marketing) effective December 27, 2022.As indicated in the MOPNG letter, the term of appointment of Amit Garg is with effect from the date of his assumption of charge of the post till the date of his superannuation i.e. March 31, 2027, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.
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Garg has been appointed as Director (Marketing) of the company effective December 27,2022. Prior to joining HPCL as Director (Marketing), Garg was Executive Director (Aviation) in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
Garg is a Post Graduate in Electronics & Management. He is a senior leader in Oil & Gas space having rich and varied experience of over 35 years across the entire value chain in the Industry including sourcing, storage, logistics, and sales across various functions in BPCL. He also served as a full time Director with Indraprastha Gas Limited, the largest CGD (City Gas Distribution) in the country and as a Nominee Director with Maharashtra Natural Gas Limited, a Joint Venture of BPCL and GAIL (India) Limited .
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GAIL India set to carry out oil exploration work soon in Rajasthan
State-run GAIL India is set to carry out exploration and production of mineral crude oil, natural gas, and coal bed methane (CBM) in 486.39 square kilometre area of Barmer-Jaisalmer block, a top official has said.
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The block has been allotted to GAIL India for three plus nine months in the seventh cycle under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy, said Sh. Subodh Agarwal, the additional chief secretary of Rajasthan mines and petroleum department. “The exploration licence has been issued on the Union petroleum and gas ministry’s recommendation,” he said.
Rajasthan is among the top oil producers in the inland area of the country. It produces about
100,000 barrels of crude oil and about 4.1 to 4.4 million cubic metres of gas daily. At present,
ONGC and Oil India are producing petroleum and gas in Barmer and Jaisalmer. While ONGC has received nine licences, Oil India has two.
Similarly, nine licences for exploration have been issued to Vedanta, followed by Oil India (5), and one each to ONGC and GAIL India.
Sh. Agarwal said the exploration work was being done in Bikaner and Sriganganagar areas as well.
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Kakinada-Nellore pipeline part of gas grid: Centre
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has authorised a total of 33,603 km of natural gas pipelines in the country under the National Gas Grid.
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Kakinada-Vijayawada-Nellore natural gas pipeline forms part of the National Gas Grid. The project was allotted to IMC Limited (IMC) on February 2, 2018.
As per the time schedule, the pipeline was to be completed by March, 2021. The authorised entity has sought extension of the project deadline up to March, 2024, said Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Sh. Rameswar Teli, while replying to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Sh. Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy on Dec 19.
He asked the minister whether it is a fact that the Centre aims to lay 33,500 km of natural gas pipeline network under the One Nation One Gas Grid scheme and if so is it a fact that Kakinada – Vijayawada – Nellore pipeline was conceived to cover the areas in AP, besides the present status of the project.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra-pradesh/2022/dec/20/kakinada-nellore
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GAIL signs time charter contract for newbuilding LNG carrier and joint ownership of existing LNG ship
State-owned GAIL (India) Ltd, India’s biggest gas utility, has signed a contract with a wholly owned unit of Japan’s Mitsui O. S. K. Lines Ltd (MOL) to time charter a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier and has taken stake in an existing LNG carrier.
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The new LNG carrier being constructed at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd will be the second MOL Group LNG carrier serving GAIL and is set to begin the time charter in 2023.
The two companies signed a contract for the first LNG vessel in 2019.
The existing vessel named ‘GAIL BHUWAN’ has been chartered by GAIL through a wholly owned MOL subsidiary from 2021. “MOL and GAIL reached an agreement to share the vessel by transferring a portion of a wholly owned MOL subsidiary’s shares to GAIL,” MOL said in a statement.
GAIL has contracts for procuring LNG volumes from the USA under two long term Sales and Purchase Agreements signed with US energy majors. The vessel will ship clean LNG fuel from the US Gulf Coast to India, for meeting the country's energy requirement and to other markets globally.
By strengthening MOL and GAIL’s partnership, there will be synergies that will allow us to provide more reliable services, and this will lead us to extend our services even further against the demand that will grow in the future, MOL said.
MOL said it will strengthen its presence and business base in India, where energy demand is
expected to increase. It continues to work proactively to provide high-quality LNG transport services that precisely meet customer needs by leveraging the know-how and network it has accumulated as one of the world’s largest LNG carrier ownership and management companies.
GAIL is constantly expanding its global presence through its participation in projects/ventures along the natural gas value chain. With a global LNG portfolio of around 14 MMTPA, GAIL has emerged as one of the leading global LNG players and is actively involved in the LNG trading business in the international market.
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Policy Matters/ Gas Pricing/ Others
Reliance seeks bids for sale of KG-D6 gas at rates linked to JKM
Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner bp plc of the UK have sought bids for the sale of natural gas from the eastern offshore KG-D6 block at a price linked to the rate at which LNG is delivered to Japan and Korea.
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The two partners invited bids for the sale of 6 million standard cubic metres per day of gas starting February 2023, according to the tender document.
Users such as city gas operators that convert gas into CNG for sale to automobiles and pipe it to household kitchens for cooking purposes, or power plants that use it to generate electricity or fertiliser units that use it to make urea, have been asked to quote premium they are willing to pay over the JKM price.
JKM is the Northeast Asian spot price index for LNG delivered ex-ship to Japan and Korea. JKM price for February is $28.83 per million British thermal units.
Bidders have been asked to quote variable ‘V’ in the gas price formula ‘JKM + V’.
The starting bid for ‘V’ has been set at $(minus) 0.30 per mmBtu “Each Bidder is required to enter bids that are higher than or equal to the starting” bid quote, the tender document said.
The maximum valid bid for ‘V’ shall be $5.01 per mmBtu beyond which the bid shall not be accepted by the e-bidding portal, it said.
The gas price, it said, shall be higher of the government-set ceiling price for gas produced from deepsea fields or the lower of price arrived at the bidding and the ceiling price.
In May last year, Reliance-pb had auctioned 5.5 mmscmd of incremental gas from the newer discoveries in the KG-D6 block, benchmarking it to the same JKM gas marker.
Three-fourths of that volume was picked-up by Reliance and its affiliates.
The price discovered in that e-auction came at a $0.06 discount to the JKM (Japan-Korea Marker) LNG price.
Prior to that, the duo had sold 7.5 mmscmd of gas at a discount of $0.18 per mmBtu to JKM.
The government sets a cap or ceiling rate at which natural gas from difficult fields like deepsea can be sold. This cap for the period October 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, is $12.46 per mmBtu.
Reliance has so far made 19 gas discoveries in the KG-D6 block. Of these, D-1 and D-3 — the largest among the lot — were brought into production in April 2009, and MA, the only oilfield in the block, was put to production in September 2008.
While the MA field stopped producing in 2020, output from D-1 and D-3 ceased in February 2021.
Since then, Reliance-bp is investing $5 billion in bringing to production three deepwater gas projects in block KG-D6 — R-Cluster, Satellites Cluster, and MJ which together are expected to meet about 15 percent of India’s gas demand by 2023.
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LNG Use / LNG Development and Shipping
Petronet LNG setting up floating terminal in Odisha
Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s largest liquefied natural gas importer, will set up a floating LNG receipt facility at Gopalpur port in Odisha at Rs2,306 crore. The company has signed an agreement with Gopalpur Ports Ltd for the facility that will have a capacity of about 4 million tonnes per annum, it said.
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“We are pleased to inform that @PetronetLNGLtd is heading forward in establishing its presence on the east coast of India by signing a term sheet with Gopalpur Ports Limited on December 14, 2022, for establishing and operating LNG terminal at Gopalpur port in Odisha,” it said. Last month, the company’s board had accorded investment approval for setting up the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) based LNG terminal at Gopalpur.
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Petronet LNG to set up floating LNG terminal at Gopalpur
The largest liquefied natural gas importer in India, Petronet LNG Ltd, would invest Rs 2,306 crore to build a floating LNG receiving facility at Gopalpur port in Odisha.
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According to a tweet from the company, it has inked a contract with Gopalpur Ports Ltd. for the facility, which would have an annual capacity of around 4 million tonnes.
“We are pleased to announce that @PetronetLNGLtd is moving forward with establishing its presence on the east coast of India by signing a term sheet with Gopalpur Ports Limited on December 14, 2022 for the establishment and operation of an LNG facility at Gopalpur port in Odisha,” it stated.
The company’s board had approved the expenditure last month for constructing the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU)-based LNG terminal in Gopalpur.
LNG is natural gas that has undergone supercooling, becoming a liquid with 1/600th the volume of a gas. This facilitates simple ship transit. It is converted back into gas at the receiving facility before being delivered to manufacturers to make fertiliser, produce electricity at power plants, or be converted into compressed natural gas (CNG) for use in automobiles.
A combination of loan and equity would be used to fund Petronet’s project in the Ganjam district of Odisha, which is anticipated to be operational by the end of 2025.The Adani Group is constructing a facility at Dhamra port in collaboration with TotalEnergie of France, and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) operates a 5 million tonnes per year facility at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. Gopalpur will be the third LNG terminal on the east coast.
The FSRU-based reception and regasification plan, according to Petronet management, has the option to be changed in the future to a land-based terminal, with an anticipated capacity of 5 million tonnes per year.In order to address the rising gas demand in the country’s eastern and central regions, the company intends to charter hire an FSRU for the Gopalpur terminal.It now runs a 5 million tonnes plant in Kochi, Kerala, and a 17.5 million tonnes per year terminal at Dahej, Gujarat.
The Dahej terminal is being upgraded to have a 22.5 million tonne capacity. Both are terminals located on land.
Petronet is building a new jetty that can also handle propane and ethane cargoes, as well as more LING storage tanks and bays for loading trucks, to add 5 million tonnes of additional capacity to Dahej, already the largest LNG import facility in the world. Petronet is owned by the state-owned companies IOC, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), GAIL (India) Ltd., and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), which each control 12.5% of the company.
https://www.constructionworld.in/energy-infrastructure/oil-and-gas/petronet-lng-to-set-up
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India To Receive First LNG Cargo From Indonesia’s Tangguh LNG
India will receive its first cargo from Indonesia’s Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Dahej terminal on Monday, according to a Refinitiv analyst and Refinitiv ship tracking data.
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The LNG cargo is being transported by the BW Helios tanker, said Olumide Ajayi, senior LNG analyst at Refinitiv.
“The vessel which had been acting as a floating storage since it lifted the cargo in mid-September is currently on a term charter to British oil major BP and is due to arrive at state-owned Petronet‘s Dahej terminal on November 28,” he said.
The BW Helios picked up the cargo of 132,000 cubic metres at the Tangguh LNG loading facility on Sept. 18, according to Refinitiv data, and has a discharge date of Nov. 28.
Ajayi added that the shipment was unusual as Indonesian LNG cargoes are typically exported to north Asia, and that India receives LNG cargoes from Qatar, Oman and the UAE.
Japan, China and Korea are key LNG consumers in north Asia, but high inventories and muted spot demand in the region have weighed on Asia spot LNG prices in recent weeks.
Operated by BP, the Tangguh LNG plant is in Indonesia’s West Papua province and began production in 2009. Its output capacity is 7.6 million tonnes of LNG per annum (mtpa) from two existing trains. BP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A third train is expected to come on stream in March 2023, officials at Indonesian upstream
regulator SKK Migas said in July, which will bring the plant’s total production capacity to 11.4 mtpa.
Train-3 however has faced several delays from an initial planned start in the third quarter of 2020 due to natural disasters delaying shipments of required construction material and COVID-19 restrictions.
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Electric Mobility/ Hydrogen/ Bio- Methane
Pune poised to become hydrogen hub
A Hydrogen Valley is a defined geographical area where hydrogen serves more than one end sector or application in mobility, industry, and energy. Hydrogen economy stakeholders believe that Pune is strategically positioned to become the hydrogen hub in the country with all the necessary building blocks in place. There exists technological competence in electrolysers, fuel cells, biomass-based hydrogen, power electronics, testing and calibration, and R&D to successfully develop a Hydrogen Valley in the region. Dozens of companies are working on hydrogen fuel.
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There are also green hydrogen offtake possibilities in Pune and neighbourhood regions, in industry sectors such as mobility, fine chemicals, steel, and fertilisers as well as in other sectors such as data centres, cold storage and gated communities. Hydrogen generation possibilities from sugar industries were significant.
To promote hydrogen economies, large-scale hydrogen flagship projects (Hydrogen Valleys – H2Vs) have been set up in 20 countries across the globe. India has committed to facilitate the creation of three Hydrogen Valleys by 2030 under the Clean Hydrogen Mission.
A Hydrogen Valley is a defined geographical area where hydrogen serves more than one end sector or application in mobility, industry, and energy. It covers all steps in the hydrogen value chain, from production to subsequent storage and its transport and distribution to various off-takers. The Department of Science and Technology, GoI, (DST) has called for proposals for the development of Hydrogen Valley Platforms in India and is carrying out discussions with stakeholders in the hydrogen space.
Sh.Siddharth R Mayur, founder and managing director of h2e Power, says with companies such as h2e, KPIT, Ador, Thermax, Eka Mobility, home Hydrogen, Praj and off-takers in and around Pune who are engaged in every part of the Hydrogen value chain, Pune already has a Hydrogen Valley ecosystem in place, not to forget institutions like the National Chemical Laboratory who bring the research base to the NetZero efforts.
Sh. Ashish Lele, director, CSIR-NCL said R&D and industry would collaborate to create sustainable Hydrogen Valleys, which would showcase hydrogen technologies, assess techno-commercial viability, enable customer experience and spur indigenisation and manufacturing in the SME sector.
Companies in Pune have already started working on hydrogen. Green hydrogen company, h2e Power Systems with JV partners is setting up an integrated $50 million electrolyser manufacturing facility in Pune. h2e Power has just commissioned India’s first commercial-grade green hydrogen production plant for Oil India.
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/pune-poised-to-become-hydrogen-hub/2921034/lite/
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EKA Mobility & NuPort Robotics release India’s first level 2 enabled ADAS electric bus
EKA, an electric vehicles & technology company, and a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries, and NuPort Robotics, a Canadian autonomous trucking company, has announced India’s first deployment of Level 2 autonomy with ADAS features for EKA Mobility’s electric bus.
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This allows NuPort to include progressive Level 2 autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for electric buses on Indian roads. The module that is now live, enables ADAS features in EKA Mobility’s electric buses, making it the first Indian company to bring such technology to the country.
Dr Sudhir Mehta, chairman, EKA & Pinnacle Industries, highlighted, “Earlier this year we announced our partnership with NuPort, and we have achieved and deployed Level 2 ADAS capability on our buses for safer transportation on Indian roads. We look forward to continuing our commitment toward creating a new community in global CV electric mobility equipped with powerful technology for mass adoption.”
NuPort’s technology provides Level 2 autonomy features for heavy commercial vehicles on Indian roads. advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features such as forward collision assistance (FCA), adaptive cruise control (ACC), left right indicator views (LRV), reverse parking view (RPV), emergency brake assist (EBA), post-incident analysis (PIDA) and a few others are provided for its clients. This is India’s first electric bus deployment with Level 2 ADAS features, and both companies are excited to take their commercial partnership forward.
Raghavender Sahdev, CEO, NuPort Robotics, mentioned, “Today with the support of EKA Mobility, we have achieved robust and safe deployment of Level 2 autonomy features for commercial electric buses for Indian roads. Over the next few years, we will deploy our technology across India, with EKA being our first Indian customer. Together with this integration and implementation, EKA Mobility and NuPort Robotics have the potential to transform commercial electric mobility with their integrated transportation ecosystem.”
With this deployment, NuPort has solved the detection of complex traffic conditions and is able to detect and predict the speeds of Indian traffic with high accuracy. Conditions such as bumper-to-bumper traffic which is frequent on most Indian roads are seamlessly detected by NuPort’s in-house proprietary AI technology. This technology allows for safer and more comfortable driving as well as travelling experience.
EKA and NuPort will release a working demonstration of its ADAS functionality shortly. The technology will reduce accident rates involving public transportation vehicles on Indian roads significantly in the coming years. The bus driver will be alerted in the event of an impending collision with a nearby vehicle, allowing the driver to avoid potentially dangerous situations. Over the next few years, the technology will be deployed on 5,000 EKA Mobility’s electric buses which will operate on different Indian state roads.
Through this strategic technical milestone, NuPort will provide a seamless driving experience to bus drivers with its AI-enabled autonomous solutions on EKA’s electric vehicle platform. NuPort being an expert in offering artificial intelligence technology and EKA having expertise in the manufacturing of electric vehicles will work together towards the commercialization of the next generation of AI-enabled electric buses in India.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Natural Gas / Transnational Pipelines/ Others
ITALY: Italy court ruling allows work on Tuscan LNG terminal to proceed
An Italian administrative court has ruled against a request for a precautionary halt on works for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Tuscan port city of Piombino, saying it did not pose an immediate threat to public safety.
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The city administration, led by mayor Francesco Ferrari, last month filed a legal challenge against the government-backed project, which Rome sees as key to helping wean Italy off Russian gas.
The challenge included a “precautionary request” to suspend works to set up the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at Piombino’s port citing safety risks for the local population and maritime traffic.
The court said one December 22 it had scheduled a new hearing on March 8 to assess longer-term safety issues relating to the floating terminal. It could still decide to stop the project on that occasion.
Italian gas grid operator Snam bought the LNG vessel in the summer and is in charge of the whole project, including connecting it to the national gas network and operating the terminal.
The infrastructure needs to be operational by April to help Italy replace dwindling Russian gas supplies and to re-fill its gas storage by next winter.
Ferrari, a member of the right-wing Brothers of Italy, the same party as Prime Minister Mr. Giorgia Meloni, said the court’s decision was based on the fact that the FSRU was not yet operational. “We will consider further actions against the way Snam is managing the construction sites that were already started,” he said in a statement on December 22.
The government-appointed special commissioner for the project, Tuscany president Eugenio Giani, urged Brothers of Italy to open a dialogue with Ferrari as it was in the “general interest” to set up the terminal in the Piombino port. “Today Italy has won,” he said in a statement.
Snam is satisfied with the ruling, company’s sources told Reuters, adding the gas grid operator was doing its best to have the additional gas available by the planned deadline.
The Piombino terminal will have a capacity of 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) and will allow Italian energy groups to increase LNG imports to the country.
In Italy there are currently three LNG terminals with a total capacity of nearly 17 bcm.
www.naturalgasworld.com/italy-court-ruling-allows-work-on-tuscan-lng-terminal-to-Proceed-102808
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Australia: Jemena appoints construction partners for LNG import terminal
Leading energy infrastructure company Jemena has announced it is partnering with engineering and construction firms Zinfra, Nacap, and Wasco to connect Australia’s first LNG import terminal at Port Kembla to the Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP).
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The appointment will see the partners build a 12 km underground pipeline which will transport up to 130 petajoules of gas annually from Squadron Energy’s Port Kembla Energy Terminal (PKET) to customers in NSW and Victoria via the EGP. Once commissioned the pipeline will be able to transport enough gas to meet more than 75% of NSW’s current gas needs.
Jemena’s Executive General Manager of Gas Markets, Antoon Boey said Jemena had partnered with the three companies in recognition of their skill and acumen in delivering complex energy infrastructure projects.
“We’re proud to be working with highly regarded construction service providers like Zinfra, Nacap, and Wasco on a project which will help deliver more gas to Australia’s east coast gas market,” said Mr Boey.
“We will be leveraging the skills of our project partners in different ways, with Zinfra set to provide overarching project management and engineering services for the project; Nacap will construct the pipeline itself; and Wasco will deliver the Kembla Grange Metering Station, where this pipeline connects to the Eastern Gas Pipeline.”
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Natural Gas / LNG Utilization
Indonesia: BP sign 20-yr contract extension for LNG operations in Papua
Indonesia has extended by 20 years a production sharing contract (PSC) with BP and its partners for Berau, Muturi, and Wiriagar working areas in West Papua, government officials and the company said on December 23.
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The extension would allow BP and its partners to operate on the fields until 2055, BP said in a statement. The working areas supply to Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
BP is trying to increase Tangguh’s production capacity from the current 7.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to around 11.4 MTPA by adding a new Train-3 plant which is expected to come onstream in March 2023, SKK Migas said earlier this year.
Indonesia usually extends a PSC two to 10 years before it expires, but BP needed to secure a longer contract to guarantee its long-term investment plan, according to Dwi Soetjipto, chairman of Indonesia’s upstream regulator SKK Migas.
“In order to maintain production for LNG Train-3, BP is committed to conducting further exploration activities at several sites … BP also committed to preparing a 2 x 90 MMSCFD gas pipe to support industry development in Papua,” said Dwi.
Output from the LNG Tangguh plant is estimated to drop before 2030 if there is no new exploration.
Energy minister Mr. Arifin Tasrif said Tangguh gas production is needed to supply Indonesia’s increasing energy demand as the country will rely on gas while transitioning to cleaner energy.
Separately, Indonesia also said on December 23 that development of BP’s Ubadari field, also in West Papua, and its carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) project would be included in the country’s list of National Strategic Projects.
Wahyu Utomo of the Acceleration of Priority Infrastructure Committee told reporters that such CCUS projects are needed for the country’s energy industry to become cleaner and that Indonesia would benefit from the technology. Indonesia usually puts important projects in the National Strategic Projects to accelerate their realisation, Wahyu said.
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Iran: Iran boosts natural gas output by 10 mcm per day
State oil company the NIOC says it has completed overhaul of a key natural gas liquids (NGL) project in southern Iran to allow the country to increase its overall natural gas output by some 10 million cubic meters (mcm) per day.
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CEO of the National Iranian South Oil Company, an NIOC subsidiary, said on December 27 that it had started injecting natural gas to Iran’s national grid from its NGL 1000 project in Aghajari region in southwestern province of Khuzestan.
“This will allow for stability in production and distribution of natural gas with the purpose of meeting a part of the winter energy demand in the country,” said Mr. Alireza Daneshi.
The announcement comes amid growing demand for natural gas for heating in Iran as temperatures have dropped to below zero in many parts of the country.
Figures by Iran’s state gas company the NIGC released over the weekend showed that gas demand in the Iranian household sector had reached an all time high of nearly 600 mcm per day.
Iran is the third largest natural gas producer in the world after the United States and Russia with some 987 mcm per day in raw sour gas output capacity.
NIGC figures released in early December showed the company had supplied a record of 843 mcm per day of natural gas to Iran’s national pipeline network.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/12/27/695251/Iran-natural-gas-output-increase-NIOC
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Global LNG Development
Germany: Germany cuts the ribbon on first LNG terminal
Germany on Saturday inaugurated its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, built in record time, as the country scrambles to adapt to life without Russian energy.
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The rig in the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven was opened by Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a ceremony on board a specialist vessel known as an FSRU, named the Hoegh Esperanza.
“It’s a good day for our country and a sign to the whole world that the German economy will be able to remain strong,” Scholz said from the boat.
The Hoegh Esperanza sounded its horn as the chancellor, dressed in a high visibility jacket,
approached.
The ship has already been stocked with gas from Nigeria that could supply 50,000 homes for a year, and the terminal is set to begin deliveries on December 22.
Germany plans to open four more government-funded LNG terminals over the next few months as well as a private terminal in the port of Lubmin.
Together, the terminals could deliver 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year from next year, or a third of Germany’s total gas needs—if Berlin can find enough LNG to service them.
LNG terminals allow for the import by sea of natural gas which has been chilled and turned into a liquid to make it easier to transport.
The FRSU stocks the LNG, then turns it back into a ready-to-use gas.
Until now, Germany had no LNG terminals and relied on cheap gas delivered through pipelines from Russia for 55 percent of its supply.
Supply worries But since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas supplies to Germany have been throttled and Berlin has been forced to rely on LNG processed by Belgian, French and Dutch ports, paying a premium for transport costs.
The government decided to invest in building its own LNG terminals as quickly as possible and has spent billions of euros (dollars) on hiring FSRUs to service them.
However, Germany has not yet signed a single major long-term contract to begin filling the terminals from January.
“The import capacity is there. But what worries me are the deliveries,” Johan Lilliestam, a researcher at the University of Potsdam, told AFP.
A contract has been signed with Qatar for LNG to supply the Wilhelmshaven terminal but deliveries are not set to begin until 2026.
Suppliers want long-term contracts, while the German government is not keen to be locked into multi-year gas deals as it wants the country to become climate-neutral by 2045.
“Companies need to know that the purchasing side in Germany will eventually diminish if we want to meet climate protection targets,” economy minister Robert Habeck has said.
Environmental campaigners have criticised the LNG project, with the DUH association announcing it will take legal action. A handful of protestors turned out in Wilhelmshaven with placards demanding An “End to gas”.
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-germany-ribbon-lng-terminal.html
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Japan’s Inpex pens LNG deal with Venture global
Japanese energy company Inpex Corporation has signed a long-term deal with US-based Venture Global LNG to buy 1mn metric tons/year of LNG for 20 years, the companies said on December 27.
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Under the agreement, Inpex Energy Trading Singapore, a Singapore-based subsidiary of Inpex, will purchase the LNG from CP2 LNG, Venture Global’s third project which is expected to start construction in 2023. Inpex joins other CP2 LNG customers including ExxonMobil, Chevron, EnBW and New Fortress Energy.
The LNG will be delivered to Inpex’s Naoetsu LNG terminal in the Niigata Prefecture as well as other terminals of customers in Japan and other countries.
Inpex earlier this year announced it aims to achieve a stable supply of clean energy by expanding its LNG trading business and strengthening its midstream and downstream businesses. The company plans to increase the volume of LNG handled by about 3mn mt/yr to 10mn mt/yr by 2030 combining its equity volume from current projects.
Venture Global’s first facility, Calcasieu Pass, started producing LNG in January this year. The company is also constructing an additional 60mn mt/yr of production capacity in Louisiana. It is developing carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects at each of its LNG facilities.
https://www.naturalgasworld.com/japans-inpex-pens-lng-deal-with-venture-global-102859
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Turkey: Turkey discovers new natural gas reserve of 58 billion bcm in Black Sea
Turkey has discovered a new natural gas reserve of 58 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the Black Sea, as the country’s total reserve in the sea has reached 710 bcm, President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.
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In addition to the new discovery at a depth of 3,023 meters in the Caycuma-1 field, the total gas reserve was raised also by a revision of the estimated volume in the Sakarya field to 652 bcm from 540 bcm, Mr. Erdogan said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.
“Our new discovery will open the door to similar discoveries in other geological fields adjacent to the region. We will start new drilling as soon as possible,” the president said, adding the market value of Turkey’s gas reserve in the Black Sea now hits $1 trillion.
The Turkish government will also focus on exploration activities in the Mediterranean, as Turkey’s ultimate goal is to achieve oil and gas independence, Erdogan noted.
“We are determined to make Turkey the energy center of the Caspian, the Mediterranean and the Middle East,” he said.
Earlier, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Mr. Fatih Donmez said the government plans to pump gas from its reserves in the Black Sea to its national grid in the first quarter of 2023.
Turkey is heavily reliant on energy imports from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran.
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LNG as a Marine Fuel/Shipping
Japan: LNG-fueled Ferry Sunflower Kurenai starts to receive LNG fuel supply
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), its group company Ferry Sunflower Limited, and Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. (Kyuden) announced that the Sunflower Kurenai, the Japan’s first LNG-fueled ferry ordered by MOL and operated by Ferry Sunflower, received its first LNG fuel supply today at the Port of Beppu in Oita Prefecture (at the north wharf of Pier 3) from Kyuden.
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LNG fuel was supplied via truck-to-ship* to the ferry —the first time in Japan— with a skid which connected four tank trucks to the ferry. Unlike a conventional method of receiving LNG fuel supply by connecting a single tank truck to LNG-fueled vessels, the use of the skid enables the ferry to receive LNG fuel from four tank trucks simultaneously, speeding up the process. The LNG fuel was supplied to the tank trucks by Oita Liquefied Natural Gas Company, Inc., a Kyuden’s group company, and Niyac Corporation transported the LNG fuel and supplied it to the ferry.
The ferry will be deployed on the Osaka-Beppu route operated by Ferry Sunflower and start
commercial service from Osaka to Beppu on January 13, 2023. Thereafter, LNG fuel will be supplied when the ferry calls at the Port of Beppu. The LNG fuel supplied this time will be used for trial operation ahead of the launch of commercial service.
LNG fuel emits almost no sulphur oxide and has GHG emission reduction effects, such as reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by about 25% compared to conventional fuel oil, and it is the most effective low-carbon ship fuel at this time. MOL, Ferry Sunflower and Kyuden will continue to proactively use environment-friendly LNG as they work to realise a low-carbon society.
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Nextdecade to supply more LNG to China’s ENN
NextDecade Corporation has agreed to supply more LNG to China’s ENN, it said on December 27. The US-based LNG developer has announced a volume increase of the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with ENN LNG for the supply of LNG from its Rio Grande LNG export project in Brownsville, Texas.
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ENN LNG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ENN Natural Gas, which operates the first large-scale private LNG terminal in China at Zhoushan.
Under the 20-year SPA, ENN will now purchase 2mn metric tons/year of LNG. This is a 0.5mn mt/yr increase from the original 1.5mn mt/yr SPA announced earlier this year.
All volumes of LNG are indexed to Henry Hub and will be supplied from the first three trains at the Rio Grande project on a free-on-board basis.
NextDecade is currently targeting a final investment decision on the first three trains of the Rio Grande export project during the first quarter of 2023, with FIDs of its remaining trains to follow thereafter.
https://www.naturalgasworld.com/nextdecade-to-supply-more-lng-to-chinas-enn-102877
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Technological Development for Cleaner and Greener Environment Hydrogen & Bio-Methane
Tokyo: Tokyo governor eyes ‘hydrogen pipeline’ for the capital
Tokyo Governor Mrs. Yuriko Koike announced plans to build a hydrogen supply network of pipelines in the capital as an energy resource to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
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Mrs. Koike made the pitch Nov. 8 at a meeting on “green hydrogen” during the COP27 summit in Egypt.
Green hydrogen is derived from renewable energy sources and has minimal impact on the environment, unlike fossil fuels.
During the meeting, Koike spoke about green hydrogen being a pillar to achieve a decarbonated society once the system is up and running in Japan’s capital.
“We have plans to build a supply system, including pipelines, to receive ‘green hydrogen’ generated around the world,” she said.
Plans call for constructing pipelines that connect Kawasaki Port in neighbouring Kanagawa Prefecture to the capital’s waterfront area to supply Tokyo residents with hydrogen transported to the port from overseas, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government.
Tokyo officials are now weighing research costs for the plan in its fiscal 2023 budget as an initial step in the undertaking.
During the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held in 2021, the metropolitan government operated a hydrogen station in the athletes’ village in the Harumi district of Chuo Ward in the waterfront area.
Buses to drive athletes to the venues ran on hydrogen supplied from the station.
In July, the metropolitan government laid a pipeline under a public road in the capital to supply hydrogen to nearby areas.
A senior official of the metropolitan government, commenting on Koike’s announcement at COP27, said, “It was a declaration at a COP conference where world leaders congregated, that Tokyo, a huge energy-consuming city, will start acting seriously (about hydrogen energy).”
During the meeting, Mrs. Koike also referred to the capital’s new policy to require large housebuilders to outfit newly built homes with solar panels from fiscal 2025.
“We will submit a bill to revise a bylaw to legislate the requirement to the metropolitan assembly next month,” she said. “Tokyo will be the first example in Japan to introduce such a system.”
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14769774
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