November 2024, Vol. 251, No. 11
Global News
Global News November 2024
Energy Transfer Selects KTJV for Lake Charles LNG Project
KBR that its joint venture with Technip Energies, KTJV, has been chosen by Energy Transfer’s subsidiary Lake Charles LNG Export Company to build its Lake Charles LNG transformation project.
“Lake Charles LNG will help bolster global energy security and it will be designed to be one of the most efficient and cleanest operating facilities in the United States,” said Stuart Bradie, KBR president and CEO.
Under the terms of the agreement, KTJV will provide engineering, procurement, construction management, construction, commissioning, startup and other related services, subject to Lake Charles LNG’s decision to issue a notice to proceed for the project.
The project would transform Energy Transfer’s existing import facility into a world-class LNG export facility to meet the world’s growing LNG and energy security demands. This conversion would include the delivery of three liquefaction trains and modifications to existing storage and dock facilities designed to enable the export of 16.45 mtpa of LNG.
“Lake Charles LNG is pleased to obtain the commitment of two world-class companies to be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for our liquefaction project,” Tom Mason, president of Lake Charles LNG, said.
KBR has nearly 50 years of experience designing, developing and supporting LNG facilities. This deep domain knowledge, combined with our JV partners’ expertise, makes KTJV ideally suited to support this crucial project.
FTC Set to Greenlight Chevron’s $53 Billion Purchase of Hess
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears ready to give the go-ahead to U.S. oil producer Chevron’s purchase of Hess, two people familiar with the matter said, leaving Exxon Mobil’s challenge to the $53 billion deal as its final hurdle.
The proposed merger was announced in October 2023, but uncertainty over the deal’s standing bumped Chevron stock down 1% during 2024.
Exxon and CNOOC Ltd., Hess’s partners in a Guyana joint venture, are challenging the transaction, saying they have the right of first refusal in cases concerning Hess Guyana assets.
A three-judge arbitration panel is due to consider the case in May 2025, with a decision expected to come within months of that, according to Reuters.
The proposed all-stock acquisition is one of the largest in a consolidating U.S. oil and gas industry where several multibillion-dollar deals have been disclosed.
Chevron’s announcement of the Hess deal came on the heels of Exxon’s $60 billion purchase of U.S. shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources.
“LNG producers may need to commit uncontracted gas to the east coast market in early 2025 to mitigate the risk of a domestic gas shortfall during the year,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said in a statement.
Norwegian CO2 Storage Facility with 68-Mile Pipeline Opens
Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies announced their CO2 storage project on the west coast of Norway has been completed and will deliver and receive its initial deliveries in 2025.
"Today we achieved an important milestone on our journey to demonstrate CCS as a viable option to help achieve climate goals," said Tim Heijn, managing director of the project at the facility unveiling.
The partners look forward to receiving the first volumes in 2025, said Arnaud Le Foll, a senior vice-president at TotalEnergies.
The site consists of 12 metal tanks onshore, which can store 7,500 cubic meters of CO2 from one of a fleet custom-made ships commissioned, according to Reuters.
It is then sent through a 68-mile (110-km) pipeline for permanent storage in a rock formation 8,530 feet (2,600 meters) beneath sea level.
Northern Lights’ first phase can inject 37.5 million metric tons of CO2 over a 25-year period, or 1.5 mtpa. A second phase targets an additional 3.5 mtpa.
Malaysia Surges to Become China’s No. 2 Crude Oil Supplier After Russia
China’s crude oil imports from Malaysia surged 31% in August from a year earlier, making it the country’s second-largest supplier after Russia, customs data showed, bucking a broader trend of slowing Chinese imports.
Chinese refiners have continued to snap up cheaper, sanctioned oil despite sluggish domestic fuel demand.
Imports from Malaysia, a major trans-shipment hub for sanctioned oil from Iran and Venezuela, amounted to 7.5 million metric tons in August, or 1.77 MMbpd, Reuters said.
That compared with imports from Saudi Arabia, previously China’s No. 2 supplier, which tumbled more than one-third to 5.3 million tons, or 1.25 MMbpd, as refiners cut nominations due to higher prices versus competing supplies.
Imports from top supplier Russia also declined, but by a more modest 11% last month and compared with a high base a year earlier.
Russian oil arrivals, which included shipments from pipelines and seaborne vessels, were 9.37 mtpa last month, or 2.21 MMbpd, the data showed.
That’s down from 2.48 MMbpd a year ago but surged from 1.76 MMbpd in July.
ConocoPhillips, Uniper Ink 10-Year Natural Gas Supply Deal
Germany’s Uniper and U.S. oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips agreed on a supply deal for up to 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas over the next 10 years.
The deal calls for ConocoPhillips to supply natural gas to Uniper in northwest Europe. Terms were not released, but the agreement is for pipeline-supplied natural gas , not LNG, a ConocoPhillips spokesperson told Reuters.
ConocoPhillips has stakes in Norwegian gas fields from where gas is piped to continental Europe and Britain. A Uniper spokesperson said that a partnership between the two companies has existed for more than four decades.
“The agreement also supports ConocoPhillips’ increasing gas flows into Europe, where significant long-term regasification capacity commitments have been made including the German LNG, Gate and Zeebrugge terminals,” a ConocoPhillips official said.
Australian LNG Producers Face Domestic Supply Shortages
Australian LNG producers may need to commit extra gas for domestic needs in the wake of projections that there will be a supply shortage beginning in early 2025.
If producers continue to export un-contracted gas, according to a quarterly report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, there is a risk there will not be enough gas to fill a key storage facility or provide a buffer against a drop in production or spike in demand.
“LNG producers may need to commit uncontracted gas to the east coast market in early 2025 to mitigate the risk of a domestic gas shortfall during the year,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said in a statement.
The LNG supply surplus in Australia’s east coast gas market is expected to fall between 12 and 27 petajoules (PJ) in the first three months next year, , according to the report.
LNG producers currently expect to have 15 PJ of uncontracted gas in the first quarter of 2025. Up to 15 PJ of gas is needed before May 2025 to refill the key storage facility of Iona in Victoria, Reuters said.
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