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[ariane] 30/5/2018 13:40

Gazprom profit jumps after gas shipments to Europe surge
By Elena Mazneva on 5/30/2018

MOSCOW (Bloomberg) -- Gazprom’s profit jumped to the highest in three years as natural gas sales to Europe surged.

Unexpectedly cold weather from Germany to the UK boosted Russia’s gas sales into the region by 8% in the first three months of the year. That along with stronger prices helped lift income for the nation’s gas-pipeline monopoly.

The results may raise pressure on Gazprom’s management to increase its dividend payout, something the company has resisted as it’s boosting investment in projects that will expand its reach deeper into Europe and Asia. Gazprom is sponsoring the Nord Stream 2 link that will funnel gas into Germany underneath the Baltic Sea, bypassing political hot spots along the main existing transport route through Ukraine.

“Gazprom may show really exceptional results this year, backed by exports to Europe, yet that wouldn’t necessarily mean an extra gain to its shareholders,” said Andrey Polischuk, an energy analyst at Raiffeisen Centrobank in Moscow. “Given its investment plan and a need to repay debts and cover interest payments, there won’t be enough cash to provide a long-awaited dividend increase, which people have been discussing from the year dot.”

Revenue in the first quarter reached a record, boosting net income 11% and returning Gazprom to positive free cash flow. Its shares gained as much as 0.6% in Moscow trading on a day when its rivals in Russia slipped along with oil prices.

Gazprom’s net income climbed to 372 billion rubles ($5.93 billion) in the first quarter from 333 billion a year ago, with revenue reaching a record 2.14 trillion rubles, according its statement Wednesday. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg Data was for a profit of 349 billion rubles.

Free cash flow, which analysts monitor as a source of money for dividends, rose to 26 billion rubles from a negative 216 billion rubles a year earlier.

As Gazprom aims to beat last year’s record shipments to Europe, it has said there’s no need for a major change in the dividend level until about 2020 when the company passes the peak in its investment program.

Gazprom raised its estimate for an investment plan of the parent company and its key units for this year to 2.01 trillion rubles from 1.98 trillion disclosed in April, according to the statement.

The company may face a decline in consumption later this year as higher prices encourage customers to find alternative sources of supply, like liquefied natural gas.

Higher gas prices may damp demand in Europe “a bit,” according to Gazprom’s biggest export client, Uniper AG. Kommersant newspaper reported that Gazprom data shows EU power generators cut consumption in the first quarter when utilities enjoyed ample output from wind and hydro plants.

[sarkasm] 29/5/2018 09:19

Shell opens LNG refueling station for trucks in Belgium
By Compelo Staff Writer
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Oil and gas firm Shell has launched its 3.5KT capacity LNG station in Herstal, Liège, Belgium, to cater to trucks.

Said to be the first of its kind in Belgium, the station is located near the three-border point at the E313 which is claimed to be a key route for international road freight.

Shell Belgium commercial director Laurent Charlot said: “LNG fuel is an important option for transport companies. Shell is committed to thriving throughout the energy transition and LNG will play an increasing role in the energy mix.

“We expect demand for LNG to grow and continue to work with truck manufacturers, customers and policymakers to promote the use of LNG as a cleaner-burning and more affordable transport fuel. The station in Herstal is an important step in the further expansion of our network of LNG stations in Europe.”

The new station can supply 150 trucks with LNG daily. LNG is claimed to be cleaner-burning than diesel and produces less sulfur, particulates and nitrogen oxides.

Belgium Federal Minister of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Marie Christine Marghem said: “With the rising demand for energy and the increasing need to reduce transport emissions, we face the challenge of how to make transport both more efficient and cleaner at the same time.”

Shell said that LNG plays a significant role as a solution for heavy-duty road transport.

Additionally, road transport companies are increasingly opting LNG fuel as it offers financial and environmental benefits compared to conventional diesel, the firm noted.
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Shell currently operates seven LNG stations in the Netherlands including in Rotterdam, Waalwijk, Amsterdam, Pijnacker, Waddinxveen, Eindhoven and Heerenveen.

Over the next 12 months, the firm plans to open further LNG stations in Europe as it sees increased demand for LNG fuel from heavy-duty road transport sector.

By 2025, Shell Retail business aims to generate 20% of its fuels margin from low-emission energy solutions at its stations.

[maywillow] 27/5/2018 16:15

The Battle For Energy Dominance In The Mediterranean
By Vanand Meliksetian - May 27, 2018, 10:00 AM CDT Erdogan angry

The Eastern Mediterranean is easily one of the most important and hotly contested regions in the world due to several key factors: the Suez Canal is vital to international commerce, militaries of major powers are participating in the Syrian Civil War, and the region hosts two more unresolved conflicts in divided Cyprus and Israel/Palestine. However, recent major gas discoveries may have permanently altered the energy map of the region. If they play their cards right, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Cyprus may soon go from energy importers to major exporters within a fortnight.

Four of the six Eastern Mediterranean countries have seen their fortunes change overnight due to these two discoveries. Two countries, however, have been left out: Turkey and Syria. While Damascus remains distracted by its raging civil war, Ankara is desperate for a potential discovery. Turkey’s economy has grown steadily in recent time and its consumption has followed suit, doubling in the last decade to 55.2 bcm in 2017. Lacking any major energy deposits of its own, Ankara has been importing most of its gas from neighbouring countries - notably Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

While Turkey has missed out, Egypt has benefitted significantly from these most recent finds. Due to several significant discoveries in the past decades, Cairo had two liquefication terminals, with a capacity of 7.5 bcm, and export pipelines that could transport fuel to Israel and Jordan. However, the enormous growth in domestic consumption and the unexpected early depletion of several fields forced Egypt to stop exports altogether and start importing. The discovery of the mammoth Zohr gas field on the coast has been a gamechanger for Cairo. Egypt will, for the first time in years, not be importing expensive LNG in 2018 as production from the massive offshore field will be ramped up to meet domestic demand.
Related: Oil Prices Fall Despite Iran, Venezuela, Libyan Supply Outages

Together with its Arab neighbour, Israel has done the most in terms of developing its energy deposits. The participation of several international energy companies and the unanimous political support for energy independence in the government has made these projects a high priority. Israel's portion of this giant gas field should be enough for not only domestic consumption but also export. Geopolitics may impede the development of energy relations with some of its neighbours, but Egypt is set to be a key partner. Cairo and Jerusalem have agreed on a deal worth $15 billion over ten years for a total of 64 bcm gas to be imported by Egypt through a private company. These imports will add to Eygpt’ domestic production in order to supply its idle liquefication facilities in order to make Egypt an energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean.

While it has missed out on the Zohr gas field, Turkey is determined to challenge Egypt as an energy hub in the region. As a bridge between Europe and the Middle East, Ankara is well placed to distribute energy. The diversification policy of the EU, due to strained relations with Russia, has further fuelled Turkey’s ambitions in this regard. So far, an additional pipeline from Russia through the Black Sea has been built to Turkey, and the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor from Azerbaijan is almost completed, but other projects have struggled.
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Israel had been considering an undersea pipeline to Turkey and the EU but Ankara’s continued support for Hamas led to a breakdown in those negotiations. The recent move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and the killing of 62 demonstrators by Israeli soldiers in Gaza have led to even higher tensions in the region. In a sector with a long return period on investments, long-term stability is a high priority. Therefore, Israel has been begun exploring other potential export routes to Europe instead of Turkey. The leaders of Israel, Cyprus and Greece met in Nicosia in February to discuss the advancing of a pipeline that would run through the three countries to the EU, circumventing Turkey.
Related: Iran: Trump’s Sanctions Can’t Touch Our Oil

Another area where Turkish saber rattling has added fuel to the geopolitical fire is in the southern shore of Cyprus. The discovery of energy deposits there promises to usher in an era of potentially cheap energy. However, Turkey insists that all of the island inhabitants, including Turkish Cypriots in the north, should enjoy the benefits. To this purpose, Turkish warships prevented exploratory drills in the seabed by Italian energy major Eni on the 9th February. The war of words waged by Ankara did not stop at Cyprus, with Egypt also coming under fire. When Cairo and Nicosia struck a deal for the joint exploration of hydrocarbons in 2013, the possibility of an undersea pipeline to Egypt’s liquefication terminals was also discussed. In reaction, Ankara stated that the accord was “null and void” stirring angry reactions from Egypt, warning Turkey not to contest a legal agreement that was supported by all parties, including the EU.

The discovery of natural gas in the region has brought together an unlikely group of countries. Turkey, having missed out on this great natural gas bounty, continues to pursue its goal of becoming an energy hub while undermining the power of its neighbours. The authoritarian style of governance practiced by the AKP party and its front man Erdogan, do not breed confidence in regard to the stability of the region. It will take a great deal of statesmanship from all parties involved in order to see the region reach its true energy potential.

By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com

[ariane] 24/5/2018 07:10

American natural gas ready to conquer the world
AFP24 / 05/2018 at 07:56

The United States produces a lot of natural gas and has recently accelerated the search for markets in the global market, a trade offensive supported by Donald Trump.

"The 2018-2029 period has long been considered a critical period for the global natural gas market," said Breanne Dougherty, a specialist in this raw material for Société; Générale.

Thanks to new techniques for shale basin development, particularly in the Appalachian region in the north-east of the country, since 2009 the United States has been the world's largest producer of natural gas. In 2017 they extracted just over 2 billion cubic meters a day.
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They already export some of this abundant resource via pipelines in Canada and Mexico.

But to reach more distant markets, they rely on liquefied natural gas (LNG), condensed gas in the liquid state to be transported by sea.

LNG exports began to grow in 2016 when Cheniere Energy first chartered a LNG carrier from its facility in Sabine Pass, Louisiana. Until then, the United States exported LNG only from a terminal located in Alaska and closed in 2015.

They quadrupled in one year, Washington becoming a net exporter of natural gas in 2017 for the first time in 60 years.

More than 50% of the shipments were destined for three countries: Mexico, South Korea and China. About a third was bound for Europe.

Exports are set to explode further as a new Dominion Energy terminal in Cove Point, Maryland, on the east coast of the United States, began operations in March and four more projects are expected to be completed. here end of 2019.

The export capacity will then reach 272 million cubic meters per day.

- 3rd largest exporter -

As a result, according to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), the United States is expected to become the world's third largest exporter of LNG in 2020, behind Australia and Qatar, and ahead of Malaysia.

US companies can count on a strong appetite for natural gas: according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), demand for this product is expected to grow by 1.6% per year by 2040, compared with 0.5 only for oil and 0.2% for coal.

Donald Trump encourages this growth.

Since he has, in June 2017, advocated the "American domination of energy", he has several times extolled the merits of American natural gas, evoking for example during a visit to Poland last summer. European countries to diversify their sources of supply.

Asia is particularly targeted: according to the IEA, 80% of the growth in gas demand by 2040 is expected to come from emerging countries, China and India leading the way.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this week that the subject of US oil and gas exports was at the heart of trade talks with China.

According to some European officials, the US President's decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, which could prevent Tehran from exploiting its immense gas reserves, or its recent criticism of the North gas pipeline Stream 2 aiming to connect Russia to Germany, is also a way to clear the ground for US natural gas.

"It would be an exaggeration to say that energy is the primary motivation for these decisions," said Ms. Dougherty.

"They have unquestionably implications for the energy market" but "there is currently zero visibility on the consequences of these actions," she notes.

In addition, says energy policy specialist Samantha Gross at the Brookings think tank, "While the administration would certainly like to see more natural gas exported, it does not really have control over customers."

"US companies make their own decisions based on the profits and losses they can generate," she insists.

[sarkasm] 16/5/2018 22:03

777/5000
PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones) - The manufacturer of cryogenic membranes used to transport liquefied natural gas Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT.FR) announced on Wednesday that it has received an order notification from an "Asian shipyard" , concerning the design of the LNG tanks of two new LNG carriers.


MAIN POINTS OF THE COMMUNIQUE:


- These units will be built on behalf of a European shipowner.


- GTT will design the LNG tanks of the two units, each equipped with the NO96 GW membrane containment solution, a proven technology developed by GTT. Their delivery is expected in 2020.


-Agefi-Dow Jones; [phone]; [e-mail] ed: VAT


(END) Dow Jones Newswires


May 16, 2018 12:16 ET (16:16 GMT)

[ariane] 11/5/2018 14:05

Analysis: US LNG still making no dent on European natural gas markets

London (Platts)--11 May 2018 808 am EDT/1208 GMT

US LNG is still a rare visitor to European shores despite low LNG stocks -- especially in northwest Europe -- and high European hub prices.

* Only three cargoes to UK, Netherlands so far in 2018

* European hub prices high, but not competing with other markets

* Netbacks to northeast Asia higher for June delivery

Once expected to be the mainstay market for US LNG cargoes, Europe remains relatively untouched by supplies of cheap US shale-based liquefied gas, and current pricing suggests cargoes will continue to be attracted to other, higher-priced markets.

European gas and LNG stocks were drawn down to record low levels at the end of the winter on freezing temperatures, leading to an expectation that LNG supplies would rise over the summer to help refill the depleted stocks.

US LNG from the Cheniere-operated Sabine Pass terminal and the newly operational Cove Point facility were seen as likely candidates to help Europe recover its stock levels in time for next winter.

But cargoes are still few and far between to Europe despite the relatively short distance between the US and Europe, and stubbornly low US gas prices versus high European gas hub prices.

The estimated US LNG breakeven price of $7.35/MMBtu is currently well below the Italian PSV price for June delivery of almost $8/MMBtu, and also lower than the Spanish PBV and French TRS June prices.

But it is still higher than the UK NBP and Dutch TTF prices for June, which are just above $7/MMBTu, according to S&P Global Platts estimates.

Just three US LNG cargoes have landed in Europe since the turn of the year -- one to the UK in March and two -- one to the UK and one to the Netherlands -- in April.

All were supplied as a means to help restock low LNG storage in both countries following back-to-back cold weather systems that hit northwest Europe in late February and March.

ASIAN DRAW

But since the start of the year Europe has been unable to compete with higher-priced markets for more US LNG imports.

During the first four months of the year, US LNG exports have overwhelmingly shifted east, with Asian buyers taking 52 cargoes, or roughly 54% of US LNG production over that timeframe, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Asia's share of US LNG demand rose from roughly 32% during the first four months of last year to 54% this year.

Partly, this shift has been driven by high northeast Asian winter demand, which supported spot LNG prices in the region, with the JKM spot Asian LNG price averaging $8.98/MMBtu between January and May, $2.27/MMBtu (or 34%) stronger than 2017.

Over the same period, the US Henry Hub front-month contract price has averaged only $2.81/MMBtu, down $0.29/MMBtu (9%) from last year.

As a result, northeast Asian netbacks -- the destination market gas price minus the Henry Hub price, liquefaction and shipping costs -- to Sabine Pass have averaged $3.91/MMBtu since the beginning of the year, $1.13/MMBtu (41%) stronger than netbacks to northwest Europe, according to Platts Analytics.

South Korea, China, Argentina and Mexico in particular have been soaking up US LNG cargoes from Sabine Pass in recent months.

EUROPEAN NETBACKS

For May, there are no cargoes of US LNG on the horizon for Europe despite netbacks being favorable, according to the forward curve and Platts pricing.

Turkey is the best priced market for US LNG for May delivery with a netback calculated at $4.32/MMBtu, according to Platts estimates, followed by the UK, Spain and Brazil.

Contractually, however, the majority of the new US capacity to come online this year has been subscribed by Pacific Basin buyers, including Indian GAIL's capacity at Sabine Pass and Cove Point and Japanese buyers Tokyo Gas and Kansai Electric by way of Sumitomo's capacity at Cove Point.

The May pricing also looks like a one-off. For April delivery, netbacks to Japan, South Korea, Egypt and China were all higher than for European markets.

And the pattern repeats for US LNG cargoes for June delivery, when supplies to Japan and South Korea are again more profitable than to Europe.

It had been expected that the liquid UK and Dutch gas hubs would attract US LNG given a perception of an oversupplied global LNG market that would have seen US LNG cargoes taken into the NBP and TTF hubs as "markets of last resort."

Since the first exports in February 2016, Turkey has taken 12 cargoes, Spain 10, Portugal eight, Italy three, Lithuania two, Poland one and Malta one.

US LNG export capacity is set to increase to some 100 Bcm/year by 2020 as other new projects come on stream.

--Stuart Elliott, [e-mail]

--Edited by Jonathan Fox, [e-mail]

[la forge] 10/5/2018 18:06

Natural Gas News
Shell ‘Bullish’; on LNG Canada Project
May 10, 2018 5:00:pm

Summary

$40bn project "should be the next big global LNG investment"
by: Dale Lunan

The president and country chair of the Canadian subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch major Shell said May 9 he is “cautiously optimistic” that Shell and its joint venture partners in the $40bn LNG Canada project in Kitimat, BC will take a positive FID later this year.

Speaking to oil and gas executives and investors at the ARC Energy Investment Forum ‘Playing to Win’ in Calgary, Shell Canada's Michael Crothers pointed to the unexpected 30% increase in global LNG demand last year – most of it emanating from China – and the impact that higher demand would have on the development of new LNG projects.

“We’re quite bullish about that, and we think that this site for LNG Canada is the best site on the west coast,” he said. “We’ve got fantastic transit times – eight days to get to Tokyo Bay – and we have a fantastic resource base in our Groundbirch asset in the Montney, which is getting more and more stranded with the collapse in gas prices at AECO and the steady erosion of markets for our gas in the US.”

Projects like the 14mn metric tons/year LNG Canada export terminal, he said, are the only way to get Canadian gas to offshore markets, where there are “fantastic opportunities” to eliminate coal combustion in places like China, which would eliminate some 50mn metric tons/year of CO2 emissions.

“But the challenge we have, even with all these advantages, is the cost of building something like this in Kitimat,” Crothers reminded his audience. The location is remote, the weather conditions are challenging, and workers must be flown in and out and housed in purpose-built work camps.

“All of that is a challenge, [but] I am cautiously optimistic,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to make this a success and convince our shareholders – not only at Shell but at our JV partners as well – that this is indeed the project that should be the next big global LNG investment.”