Singapore Building Facility for LNG Import from Qatar

Singapore is building new import facility for liquified natural gas on Jurong Island which will receive LNG from Qatar in the country's plans to diversify its gas supply. The facility costs $1.5 billion is due to be completed in 2013 to store more than six million tonnes per annum.

Singapore currently depends on the piped LNG from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Singapore's Prime Minister is replying in response to Indonesian announcement of increasing the supply price.

The partnership with Qatar, the world's biggest natural gas producer is expected after Qatar Petroleum International bought into Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore last November.

Timor-Leste Inviting Petronas to Develop Oil Field

Timor-Leste's government will invite Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) instead of Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum and partners for the development of offshore Greater Sunrise gas field. The decision is expected due to Woodside's earlier plan for development of Greater Sunrise gas filed without an onshore plant for gas liquefaction.

The Timor-Lester ministry has advised that in order to benefit the country and the people by having a pipeline to East Timor instead of going to straight to other areas such as Darwin.

The decision is also believed due to good relations between Timor-Lester and Petronas and its previous experience in the oil sector and LNG plant.

Floating USD20 Billion of Oil & Gas Assets

Derrick Petroleum Services in their comprehensive study of the Top 1000 global oil and gas companies has identified that as much as $20 billion of oil and gas assets excess currently for sale worldwide. The whole assets are currently floating through 69 separately announced transactions.

Derrick estimation only takes into account deals with value greater than $10 million with North America leading the inventory with over $9 billion followed by Africa (22%), Europe, South America, Asia, Australia and Middle East.

Some of these assets could worth more due to their potential in future discoveries such as Devon Energy's offer for its four discoveries (Kaskida, Cascade, Jack and St. Malo) in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

It is interesting to note that most of the potential buyers are Middle Eastern and National Oil Companies compared to the usual Western investors and public listed companies.

Petronas to Produce 5 Billion cm of Gas in Turkmenistan

The Turkmenistan government had announced that Malaysian state oil firm Petronas could produce up to 5 billion cubic metres of gas annually in the Turkmen portion of the Caspian Sea with opportunity to double up the capacity in the near future.

Petronas had invested about $2 billion in the Caspian shelf project since 1996 and is likely to be the sourced for the planned Nabucco project. The Nabucco project will be responsible to ship gas volumes of Central Asian gas to Europe.

Italy Triton LNG Terminal Postponed

GDF Suez has postponed the start-up of its Triton LNG terminal in Italy from 2012 to 2013. However, the date is yet to be confirmed as the company has not taken the final investment decision. The comissioning date of 2013 may be due to lengthy process of protocols with the local and national authorities of the LNG terminal. Italy is venturing into many LNG projects as Qatar had earlier agreed to lower prices of LNG over the long run. The agreement was much influenced by the European countries as a whole.

China & Myanmar Signing New Oil & Gas Pipeline Contract

A cross boarder oil and gas pipelines to enable oil and other oil-derivatives to China is already in plan as China and Myanmar signed a pipeline contract between China and Myanmar to slash the transfer time for crude oil imports.

The agreement reportedly consists of pipeline project as well as join-venture for hydropower projects. China and Myanmar plan to build 2,000-km gas and oil pipeline through Ruili and Kunming in Yunnan province which can tremendously cut out oil cargos long detour through the congested Malacca Strait.

The project is however under strict control due to Myanmar's history with human rights which means less injection of capital from external sources. As the project benefits China in great length, Beijing is offering incentives including cheap loans and tax breaks to attract foreign participation.

Sonagas Partnering with Eon Ruhrgas

Sonagas, Equatorial Guinea's state gas company is in negotiations to partner with Eon Ruhrgas, the German utility for a second LNG export facility in Equatorial Guinea project creating a West African gas hub. It is likely that a consortium will be set-up comprising of Sonagas, Eon, Union Fenosa of Spain and Portugal's Galp Energia.

Taking advantage of West Africa as a potential route to Europe and amidst instability dependence on Russia gas, the project is expected to get a strong push factor. It is likely that the source gas will be  from gas currently flared as waste by ExxonMobil at the Zafiro deepwater oilfield. 

The consortium is however exposed to a major risk as Equatorial Guinea is one of Africa's most volatile country due to local uprising.

Huge offshore oil discoveries have boosted Equatorial Guinea's oil production from almost nothing a decade ago to about 380,000 b/d, ranking it behind only Nigeria and Angola among sub-Saharan African producers.

Fierce Competition in Australia's LNG Business

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has been reportedly joined the bandwagon as the latest big prospector in Australia's coal seam gas rush. This comes after news that Shell is planning to build a multibillion dollar gas export facility at Gladstone in Queensland state.

It has been a competition of media coverage alongside with BG, ConocoPhillips and Malaysia's Petronas planning to team up with local companies to convert Australia's rich CSG reserves to liquefied natural gas for export.

As to date, five LNG plants are planned to be constructed. Heavy participations comes from all corners including Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd, a smaller scale company compared to the oil giants.

Shell has already signed an exclusive right to investigate a site on Curtis Island near Gladstone for a possible LNG plant with Gladstone Port Corp and has already commenced a feasibility study.

Analysts are not ruling out that there perhaps will be hitting back at Shell by making an even higher bid for Pure Energy from BG.

Shanghai, China is Booming with LNG Demand

China, one of the world's biggest demand for energy, is going to be the next LNG vacuum with demand increase up to 3 billion cubic metres last year. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC); is due to commission a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas in Shanghai in early February 2009 from Malaysia LNG Tiga. This first ever cargo is said to be about 20,000 cubic metres of gas before commercial operation in April.

CNOOC's Shanghai terminal will receive 1.1 million tonnes per annum from Petronas LNG complex in Malaysia with incremental volume up to 3 million tpa in 2012. Shanghai is now looking at ways to increase its emergency gas reserves as demand is shooting up.

US Marathon Oil to Sell its Irish Asset to PETRONAS

The US' Marathon Oil has agreed to sell most of its Irish assets to PETRONAS for $180 million.also include a 100% interest in the company's gas storage business with current capacity of 7 billion cubic feet.  

This acquisition includes a 86% stake in the producing Seven Heads gas fieldand a 100% operated interest in the Kinsale Head Area comprising Kinsale Head, South West Kinsale and the Ballycotton gas fields, as well as an 86% interest in the gas producing Seven Heads field which is tied back to Kinsale. All the gas fields at Kinsale area are estimated for current net production of 36 million cf/day. 

Petronas subsidiary Star Energy was appointed for Petronas behalf responsible for the acquisition. 

New Gas Fields Found in Mozambique

Two new natural gas fields were found in the southern Inhambane province of Mozambique. The gas field discovery is foreseen for domestic demand for natural gas as suggested by Mineral Resources Minister Esperanca Bias of Mozambique including for electricity generartion, fertiliser factory and fuel for vehicles.

Under Mozambican law, any consortium that has discovered gas reserves has six months to assess its findings and present a report to the government. In this case, the player will be South Africa's Sasol , Malaysia's Petronas and the Mozambican government. Sasol, the world's biggest maker of diesel from coal, owns 50 percent of the project, Petronas owns 35 percent, while the government of Mozambique holds 15 percent through national oil company Empresa Nacional De Hidrocarbonetos De Mozambique (ENH). 

Malaysia to Build Petrochemical Plants in Sabah

Malaysia is expected to build a petrochemical plant in Sabah, despite global economic downturn after heavy pressure from the local political scene. The Malaysian government has instructed the complex after Petronas, its national oil company to construct the RM3billion gas pipeline from Sabah to Sarawak.

Early indication is expecting a full-fledged petrochemical industry setup.

BG and PETRONAS Agreed on Open Market for Dragon

BG and Petronas who both share and hold the capacity rights at Dragon LNG are expected to operate the terminal on an open-market basis allowing demand to dictate imports into the terminal. The Dragon LNG joint-development partnership comprises of 50% BG Group and Petronas with 30% and Dutch terminal developer 4Gas with 20%. Dragon LNG is built on a former refinery site taking advantage of two storage tanks and one jetty with capacity to handle 6.8 mtpa of LNG. 

Petronas - Australia Gladstone LNG Ink MoU

The Directors of Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd inked down a Technology Memorandum of Understanding with SK Engineering and Construction (SKEC) for the framework for SKEC and the Company to establish a technology joint venture. The JV is 50% each for between LNG (which is partly-owned by Malaysian O&G PETRONAS) and another 50% for SKEC.

The agreement focuses on:

• Completion of the final design of the OSMRTM process technology for inclusion in the Gladstone LNG Project front end engineering and design (FEED) package
• OSMRTM process technology license to the Gladstone LNG Project process guarantee.
• Colloboration for commercialisation of the OSMRTM process technology including development, marketing and LNG related processes.

PETRONAS Found Gas in Pakistan

Despite the regional political instability, PETRONAS Carigali Pakistan Ltd (PCPL), a unit of Petroliam Nasional Sdn. Bhd. (PETRONAS) existence in Pakistan progressed. PETRONAS Carigali had reportedly made a second gas discovery in Mubarak Block, located in Sindh Province, Pakistan.

PETRONAS Buys Stakes in Santos Australia LNG

Malaysia's State Oil Company, Petronas is buying a 40 percent stake in Australian energy firm Santos Ltd's Gladstone for $2.51 billion. Santos Gladstone is in the liquefied natural gas project in Australia.

Petronas' investment in the project will help to fasten the usage of coal seam gas as a feedstock as Petronas is seen as the ideal partner to help develop Santos' coal seam gas to LNG strategy.

Santos was quoting that Petronas will inject capital investment of $2.01 billion followed by remaining for the second LNG train at the Gladstone, Queensland. The key strategic alliance is due to marketing power of Petronas, the third-largest LNG producer in the world. Santos shares jumped 10.12 percent to a record high of A$20.90 by 0325 GMT, a proud achievement for both Santos and Petronas.

Other oil and gas companies such as Exxon Mobil are also taking lead in LNG project in Papua New Guinea with Santos for a race amid rising prices and a forecast surge in global demand.

Malaysian' Petronas Maintains Gas Price

Petronas chairman Tan Sri Hassan Marican, has given affirmation that the nation's natural gas price sold as NGV or compressed natural gas in the country will remain the same for the motorists. This come soon after public rage of Malaysian Government that increased the price of oil by reducing subsidy given to the nation.

Petronas is also caught saying that there will be additional 200 stations by 2010. Currently, for every litre sold at 68 sen, the national oil company forks out RM2. Petronas told the press that the biggest challenge is due to high electricity bill for the petrol stations and transport of compressed natural gas outside pipeline area.

Brazil Cosan Acquiring ExxonMobil

Brazilian energy giant - Cosan which produces Brazil's major ethanol is planning to acquire ExxonMobil’s operations in Brazil for $826m for a direct control of more than 1,500 fuel stations in Brazil.

The take-over will inherit $163m in debt from ExxonMobil and $35m in net credits specific for the fuel stations operation. However, ExxonMobil is still in charge of its major chemical plants and upstream oil and gas operations especially at offshore Santos Basin.

Analysts are looking at the strategic move as a favorable one since it lets Brazil Cosan to take charge of the fuel stations for distribution of its vast production of Brazil's ethanol.

MTO Projects Spur in Inner Mongolia

China’s Inner Mongolia is spurring with methanol investments through methanol-to-olefins (MTO) projects due to its cheap and abundant coal supply with estimated of nearly 10 million tonnes/year of methanol will be produced by the next 5 years.

MTO projects such as by Datang International Power has capacity of 1.7 million tonne/year methanol with around 1.5m tonnes will be converted to propylene using Lurgi’s technology as feedstock to make around 500,000 tonnes of polypropylene (PP).

The cost of polypropylene made from this route is expected to be cost competitive, given the low price of coal in Inner Mongolia using coal gasification technology from Shell with 3 tonnes of methanol are needed to produce 1 tonne of propylene through the process.

Shell & QatarGas Supplying LNG to Dubai from 2010

Royal Dutch Shell together with QatarGas signed a deal with the emirates of United Arab Emiratges to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Dubai in the peak demand summer period from 2010. Shell and QatarGas will supply around 1.5 million tonnes of LNG a year for 15 years.

Demand for power and water in the Dubai increased by 20 percent a year, driven by rapid economic and population growth due to tourism, trade and financial services.

Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup) has been given the sole rights to supply gas users. DUSUP will also be responsible in building a floating LNG regasification facility at Jebel Ali port with capacity of 3 million tonnes a year expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2010. Ironically, UAE is the world's fifth-largest gas reserves but has not developed the gas reserves quickly enough to meet its own rising gas demand as the UAE economy expands in particular Dubai.