JERA, the world’s largest LNG buyer and owner of half of Japan’s power generating capacity, has pledged to reduce its reliance on coal power faster than the government’s official target. The aim is to scale down the contribution of coal in Japan’s energy mix from 33% in 2016 to less than 26% by 2030.
The Finish marine and energy technology company Wärtsilä has posted an 8% growth in net sales to €1,151 million for the period from January to March 2019, and a 6% rise in order intake to € 1,416 million. “Demand improved in the gas carrier segment but despite this positive development, reduced activity in the energy markets resulted in a decline in group order intake,” Wärtsilä CEO Jaakko Eskola said.
Energy trade between Mexico and the United States has undergone massive change. The value of U.S. exports of petroleum products nearly tripled from $10.4 billion in 2008 to a record high of $30.5 billion in 2018, while U.S. energy imports from Mexico stayed a near record low of $15.8 billion for a second year in a row.
The U.S.-based Fortune 500 power company AES Corp is divesting its interests in six power plants in Jordan and the United Kingdom for a total of $211 million. Andrés Gluski, AES’ President and CEO said the company decided to cut back the number of countries in which it operates and will shift its focus to renewables, energy storage and LNG.
Natural gas future prices for May at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub have firmed to $2.535/MMBtu due to increased demand from the power sector and for feedgas for a growing number of liquefaction and export plants. Energy Aspects flow data shows Sabine Pass LNG is taking 3.4 bcf/d would indicate all five trains are operating.
Imports of liquefied natural gas to Japan have dropped for a fifth straight month as thermal coal imports is outcompeting gas in the power sector. In March, some 9.58 million tons of thermal coal was imported, up 3% on February, while LNG cargoes delivered in the same month totaled nearly 7.3 mt, down from 7.93 mt a month earlier, according to Japanese custom’s data.
The Indian government may give way to utilities’ demands and allow power plants running on regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) to sell electricity into the higher-priced spot market, without having to adhere to their power purchase agreements. The proposed e-RLNG scheme will likely require fewer subsidies than in past years due to the fall in global oil prices.
Working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 United States ended the heating season on March 31 at 1,137 billion cubic feet (Bcf) – the lowest level since 2014. The 2018–19 heating season was characterized by periods of significantly colder-than-normal temperatures, particularly in the Upper Midwest, the EIA said in its latest Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.
Chevron’s $33 billion takeover of Anadarko, one of the world’s largest independent oil companies, will boosts its lead in the Permian Shale, and grow its midstream and LNG export business. Chevron CEO, Michael Wirth commented: “The transaction underscores our commitment to short-cycle, higher-return investments.”
Demand for natural gas in the U.S. power sector keeps rising as the number of combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants has overtaken coal-fired plants, making the power sector compete for fuel with LNG export projects. Thankfully, the production of U.S. dry gas is going from strength to strength.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects natural gas prices at the benchmark Henry Hub will to fall to an average $2.82/MMBtu this year, and decline further in 2020. The bearish sentiment is caused by a continuous rise in U.S. dry gas production, forecast to expand by 7.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) this year to reach around 91.0 Bcf/d.
In the wake of Egypt’s latest tender for exploration licenses in the Red Sea, the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek El-Molla has forecast the country's overall natural gas output will reach more than 5 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by the early 2020s. Anticipating a substantial gas surplus, the Government aims to use these volumes to increase power generation and to meet Egypt's LNG export obligations.
Updated data for 2019 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) show Chinese-added power generation capacities in Sub-Saharan Africa will total 9 GW over the decade between 2014 and 2024. This does not include two large dams currently under construction – the 2,160 MW Cacula dam in Angola and the 3,048 MW Mambila dam in Nigeria, which are unlikely completed before 2024.
News in Brief
Evol LNG helps power Australian gold mine
June 18 – Kirkalocka Gold Mine in Western Australia will use Evol LNG to fuel Zenith Energy’s 14.5 MW power station with regasified natural gas starting from September 2019. The mine is run by Adaman Resources and had been relying on diesel to cover its energy needs. Based on the current diesel price, Adaman Resources expects to reduce fuel costs by more than A$13 million (US$9 million) during the first six years of operation of the new onsite LNG-to-Power plant.
Shell Energy ordered to refund overcharged UK customers
June 17 – UK energy regulator Ofgem has ordered Shell Energy Retail to refund around 12000 customers who were overcharged after the Government’s cap on gas and electricity prices came into force in January. Shell Energy Retail s agreed to refund these customers by paying £29,000 in compensation (£5 per fuel), and also pay an additional £200,000 into Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund.
BASF enters battery market
June 14 – German chemical company BASF is using NGK Insulators’ sodium sulfur batteries as its entry point into the energy market. The Japanese manufacturer NGK is currently the only maker of the large-scale sodium sulfur (NAS) batteries, capable to store several hours of energy. A joint project in northern Germany uses NAS batteries that store energy for five hours, while a recently completed project in Abu Dhabi using 108MW / 648MWh of the systems with a full six hours storage duration.
CNPC boosts domestic gas production
June 13 – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the largest Chinese oil and gas company, has announced plans for domestic natural gas output to reach 55% of overall domestic supply by 2025. Last year, CNPC managed to boost production by 5.9% to reach 138.02 billion cubic metres, while also increasing imports of pipeline gas and LNG.
Gazprom taps new gas deposits for Nord Stream 2
June 12 – Gazprom is fast-tracking hydrocarbon production in northwest Russia to boost reserves for export through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (55 Bcm/y), currently being built through the Baltic Sea. At a meeting with Nord Stream shareholders, Gazprom noted that its Yuzhno-Russkoye field has yielded about 276 Bcm of natural gas, including 0.9 Bcm of hard-to-recover Turonian gas, since the start of operations. Turonian gas reserves, consisting of about 99% methane with no heavy residues, lie at a depth of 800–850 meters in reservoirs with low permeability. Commercial production at the Turonian deposit is scheduled to start in late 2019.
PG&E turns off electricity to avoid wild fires
June 11 – Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has turned off electricity for some Californian communities at risk of a wildfire during the lastest heat wave. The authorized blackout started on Saturday in Napa, Solano and Yolo counties, with electricity being gradually restored over the course of Monday. Approximately 16,000 customers have been affected.
Gazprom to build power plants in Serbia
June 10 – Gazprom Energoholding has signed an Agreement of Intent (AoI) to build an upgrade several gas-fired power plants in Serbia. Together with Novi Sad, Gazprom Energoholding is already building a CCGT with some 200 MW capacity near a refinery in the Serbian town of Pancevo.
U.S. fund splashes out $4bn to buy El Paso Electric
June 7 – Infrastructure Investment Fund (IIF), a private investment vehicle within J.P. Morgan Inc., has agreed to acquire the U.S. utility El Paso Electric Co for $68.25 per share in a cash transaction. The enterprise value on the transaction is estimated at $4.3 billion. El Paso Electric customers will receive a total $21 million in bill credits over three years.
Caterpillar gensets back up Finnish data center
June 6 – The Swedish telecom giant Telia has ordered 12 Caterpillar gensets to provide standby emergency power to back up operations at its new data center in Helsinki. The Cat dealer Witraktor figured a system which includes eight Cat 3516B and four 3516E generator sets. The Telia Helsinki Data Center is the largest such facility in Finland, and its primary electric power supply comes from a combination of wind, hydroelectric and biomass.
Capstone wins orders in Iraq
June 5 – Micro-turbine producer Capstone has secured an order for two C600 Signature Series microturbines to provide 1.2 MW of energy to power a triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration facility near Basra, in southern Iraq. The contract also includes Capstone’s new self-cleaning pulse filtration system, allowing the turbines to better withstand hot and sandy conditions with minimal maintenance.
Gas to supply record 43% of US power needs
June 4 – This summer, natural gas is forecast to cover between 40% and 43% of 2019 peak electricity demand in all U.S. states except Texas, according to projections by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Gas demand soared to nearly 10,700 billion cubic feet (Bcf) last summer, a 16% rise from 2017 levels. Should there be another heat wave this year, that record may well be broken. Capacity wise, natural gas is on course to top its 45% share in the U.S. power mix.
Lukoil to upgrade CHP at Krasnodar
June 3 – Russia’s oil and gas company Lukoil has received government approval to modernize and expand three combined heat and power units in Krasnodar. The gas-fired CHP units have more than 400,000 hours and ran an average 74% utilization rate, the operator said. The upgrade will add 150 MW of power generation capacity and Lukoil said it expects the revamped power plant to be ready for commissioning as early as 2022.
GE commissions Al-Qudus CCGT in Iraq
May 31 – GE Power has installed and commissioned a new 9E gas turbine at the Al-Qudus combined-cycle gas power plant, run by the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity’s (MoE). The CCGT was previously capable of generating up to 1,125 MW and the turbine upgrade adds another 125 MW of capacity.
Groundbreaking takes place for Ohio CCGT project
May 30 – This Thursday morning, groundbreaking will take place for the $500 million Long Ridge Energy Generation Project in Hannibal, Ohio. Long Ridge, a 485 MW combined-cycle power project, is being developed by Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors (FTAI). It will create up to 350 construction jobs and some 25 permanent jobs. The CCGT is expected to open in 2021.
Asia to spend more on renewables than oil & gas by 2020
May 29 – Utilities in Asia-Pacific region will invest more in renewables than on oil and gas exploration by 2020. Total capital expenditure in renewables will rise above $30 billion in the region by 2020, according to forecast of the consultancy Rystad Energy. India, Australia, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea will led the way in Asia’s green energy transition.
Ichthys LNG looses court claim against power sub-contractor
May 28 – JKC Australia LNG consortium, developer of the US$34 billion Inpex-built Ichthys LNG plant near Darwin, has lost a US$1.9 billion court case claim against a power station sub-contractor. Construction of the power station was subcontracted to UGL-led group which CIMIC took over in 2016 and subsequently cancelled the Ichthys power contract. The Western Australian Supreme Court in Perth now dismissed an application by JKC Australia LNG for upfront payment of damages. The power plant’s five gas turbines have already been handed over to Inpex, and KBR aims for the plant to be ready for commissioning this autumn.
San Miguel Energy claims $6.19bn subsidy for Ilijan plant
May 24 – South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC), San Miguel Energy’s development vehicle for the 1,200-MW Ilijan gas power project, has claimed that it already paid $6.19 billion in subsidies to state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) for its financial obligations as independent administrator. The build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the Ilijan plant will expire in 2022; and by that time, SPPC will get ownership of the plant.
