South Korea boosts Aug LNG imports despite weaker demand
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into South Korea, the world’s second-largest buyer of the fuel, rose 32 percent in August despite weaker domestic demand for the fuel in the gas-to-power sector.
The country imported 2.60 million mt of LNG in July as compared to 1.97 million mt in the corresponding month the year before, according to the customs data.
The data shows that South Korea paid about $1.1 billion for LNG imports last month.
Qatar, the world’s biggest LNG exporter, remained the dominant source of South Korean imports with 0.95 million mt of the chilled fuel imported from Qatar in August, up by 15.5 percent on year.
Australia was the second-largest LNG supplier to Korea last month with 0.37 million mt, followed by Oman and Indonesia with 0.30 million mt, each.
The remaining volumes imported into South Korea last month were sourced from USA, Malaysia, Norway, Russia and Brunei.
South Korea is expected to continue boosting its imports of the chilled fuel for power generation as part of a plan to reduce reliance on coal and nuclear plants.
The country reportedly aims to lift its power production capacity by up to a tenth by 2030, mostly using LNG and renewable energy.
Mexico, Korea, China and Chile are the top buyers of US LNG
Latin America and Asia-Pacific are continuing to be the preferred regions for shipments of US liquefied natural gas (LNG), the latest data from the Department of Energy shows.
US LNG export volumes reached 555.1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the period from February last year, when Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana started shipping the fuel, to August 2017, the data shows. These exports also include LNG exports in ISO containers from Miami, Fla. to Barbados.
In total, 171 cargoes of US LNG landed in 25 different countries in the period under review. Some of these cargoes were split between two destinations.
Mexico remained the dominant buyer of LNG from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant, currently the only such facility to ship U.S. shale gas overseas, with 39 cargoes or 129.6 Bcf – almost one-quarter of the total volumes shipped in the period.
South Korea took 15 cargoes while 13 cargoes landed in China, with both countries receiving the same amount of 49 Bcf, each, in the February-July period.
Chile took 16 US LNG cargoes in the period but the volumes were smaller reaching 48.1 Bcf.
During the month of July, the Sabine Pass facility shipped 16 cargoes with export point prices ranging from the smallest price of $3.53 per MMBtu to the highest price of $6.02 per MMBtu, the DOE data shows.
South Korea and Mexico took 4 of these cargoes, each, while two landed in China. Spain, Egypt, Portugal, Brazil, Kuwait and Chile received one US LNG cargo in July, each.
Gazprom pens LNG sales deal with GNPC
Gazprom’s unit Gazprom Global LNG signed a 12-year gas sales agreement with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) starting in 2019.
The agreement is the first stage in a planned series of partnerships between GGLNG and GNPC, with both companies working to develop the infrastructure and services required to manage and market the projected gas flows from the region, Gazprom said.
Under the agreement, Gazprom Global LNG will supply the chilled gas to the import terminal at Tema before regasifying it and selling to GNPC.
The project’s proposed technical configuration comprises a floating regasification barge, floating storage unit and a pipeline to an existing gas grid in Tema.
The contract with Gazprom is expected to significantly increase energy security in Ghana, providing the country with approximately 250 mmcf/d of natural gas, with the contract volumes satisfying more than 1,000 MW of thermal generating capacity.
Shell wins Mexico LNG supply tender
Mexico’s state-run Federal Electricity Commission has reportedly selected Shell and Cheniere to deliver nine liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes in the fourth-quarter.
The-Hague based LNG giant Shell won most of the tender, which was awarded on Tuesday, with shipments to be spread across October, November and December, Reuters reported citing trading sources.
The report added that US LNG export player Cheniere also took a share of CFE’s requirement.
The shipments are to be delivered into the Vopak-operated Altamira LNG import terminal on Mexico’s Atlantic coast.
Besides Altamira, Mexico imports liquefied natural gas through the Costa Azul LNG terminal and the Manzanillo LNG facility.
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As you can see from above, 'Things' our 'Thing' the 'Thing' of the future that we hope will be the 'Best Thing' since sliced Bread with Ham, Cheese and Tomatoe grilled with our 'Thing' one day continues to make it's way across oceans all over the World, Unfortunately for us atm, our 'Thing' has a prolonged case of the, knock - knock, who's there, it's the
Doldrums
Colloquially, the "doldrums" are a state of inactivity, mild depression, listlessness, or stagnation.
The doldrums are noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sailing ships for periods of days or weeks.
( hopefully not years )
My Word of the Day i'm sorry to say
Cheers
Frank
LNG Price at posting:
45.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
