Australia’s Mereenie JV signs gas supply deal with NT

Market: Electricity, Natural gas
29/07/24

The joint venture (JV) partners at Mereenie, the Northern Territory's (NT's) largest onshore operating gas field, have entered a six-year deal to supply the NT government from 1 January 2025.

The 40.5PJ (1.08bn m³) take-or-pay gas sales agreement (GSA) mitigates the risk incurred by closures to the 90 TJ/d (2.4mn m³/d) Northern gas pipeline (NGP). It does this by contracting all firm production capacity and expanding by up to 16 TJ/d on any day in 2025 when the NGP is unable to deliver to the east coast network, operator Australian independent Central Petroleum said on 29 July.

The GSA underwrites the JV's potential investment in two new production wells at Mereenie, said Central, which holds a 25pc stake, by increasing firm sales to the NT by up to 6 TJ/d.

The NT is dependent on gas-fired power supply but supply problems at Italian oil firm Eni's offshore Blacktip field led it to signing a GSA with Mereenie for 2024 supply earlier this year.

The issues at Blacktip resulted in the NGP ceasing flows in early February, cutting Mereenie off from its customers.

The NT this week also signed a GSA with Australian independent Empire Energy for supply from the proposed 25 TJ/d Carpentaria project in the onshore Beetaloo subbasin.

A unit of Australia's Macquarie Bank owns 50pc of Mereenie, located in the Amadeus basin, with upstream firm New Zealand Oil and Gas holding 17.5pc and the remaining 7.5pc is owned by Australian independent Cue Energy.

By Tom Major

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12/11/24

Finnish, Baltic gas demand falls on year in October

London, 12 November (Argus) — Aggregate Finnish and Baltic gas consumption dropped by nearly 24pc on the year in October, but still reached a six-month high as the heating season began. Combined demand in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania last month rose to 3.19TWh from 2.61TWh in September , in line with the typical seasonal progression, but was well below the 4.18TWh consumed a year earlier and the average of roughly 5.2TWh in 2018-21 ( see consumption graph, data and download ). Demand in all four individual countries was lower on the year, with the biggest drop in Lithuania, where consumption fell by more than 600GWh. In October 2023, the region's biggest consumer Achema had briefly resumed full production at both of its ammonia production units at Jonava , boosting Lithuanian demand that month. Despite the year-on-year drop, this was the fifth consecutive month-on-month increase after demand hit a near two-year low in May. Cumulative demand in the first 10 months of the year totalled 35TWh, well up from 30.3TWh a year earlier. That said, strong demand in the first quarter when the region experienced a prolonged cold snap supported a slightly skewed figure. If only considering April-October, demand of 18.5TWh was slightly below last year's 18.9TWh and well under the 30TWh average in 2018-21. This may indicate a more structural decline in the region's gas demand, particularly with power-sector demand falling as higher nuclear and renewables output cuts into the room left available for gas in the generation stack. Gas-fired power generation in the four countries totalled 186GWh last month, Fraunhofer ISE data show. This was well below 307GWh in October 2023, and the second lowest for any October since at least 2018 ( see gas-fired power graph ). Gas-fired output was lower on the year in all four countries, with roughly 40GWh drops in Lithuania, Finland and Latvia. Onshore wind production in Finland, by far the region's largest overall power producer, jumped by more than 1TWh on the year, more than offsetting lower nuclear and hydro output. This allowed Finland to net export around 150GWh of power, having net imported nearly 300GWh in October 2023, according to Fraunhofer data. Prices on the regional GET Baltic exchange averaged €41.74/MWh in October, up by 3pc on the month but 18pc down on the year. The price on the exchange "increasingly correlates with" the TTF, a correlation that will likely strengthen as GET Baltic trading migrates to the larger EEX platform next year , chief executive Giedre Kurme said. This transition will "create opportunities for competition, more liquid trading and price convergence", and "we are already seeing increased interest from international participants in the Baltic-Finland region", Kurme said. Firms traded 708GWh on the exchange in October, the most for any month since February, and all transactions were on the daily market. The joint Latvian-Estonian market accounted for 43pc of total trades, followed by Lithuania at 31pc and Finland at 26pc, GET Baltic said. Maintenance continues to limit Finnish LNG sendout Extensive maintenance on the Balticconnector pipeline this month, which makes all southbound capacity from Finland towards Estonia unavailable, continues to limit sendout from Finland's Inkoo LNG terminal. After maintenance on the 14-27 October gas days took exit capacity towards Estonia fully off line, this capacity is again unavailable because of further maintenance on 4-17 November. Without southward pipeline capacity, sendout from Inkoo must fall to levels that only the domestic market can absorb. Inkoo received the 145,000m³ Arctic Princess just before the maintenance started on 3 November, and the next scheduled delivery is not until 28 November ( see LNG data and download ). Sendout is likely to remain low even after the end of maintenance so as not to fully deplete stocks before the next arrival. Sendout from Inkoo averaged 23 GWh/d on 4-11 November. In contrast, sendout from Lithuania's Klaipeda terminal has jumped to 104 GWh/d this month, helping to plug the Baltic supply gap left by no southward inflows from Finland. Sendout from Klaipeda has been higher this month than the 85 GWh/d in October and 80 GWh/d on 1-11 October last year. Klaipeda has already received two cargoes this month, on 4 and 12 November, and will receive a further two on 21 and 29 November, the terminal's schedule shows. This suggests that sendout is likely to remain brisk for the rest of this month, helping to meet higher regional demand as the weather turns colder and limits the need for strong withdrawals from storage early in the winter season. By Brendan A'Hearn FinBalt gas consumption by country GWh Gas-fired power generation by country GWh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Cop: UK sets ambitious 2035 climate target

12/11/24

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12/11/24

Cop: UK sets ambitious 2035 climate target

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Cop: Azerbaijan president criticises ‘petrostate’ label

12/11/24

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12/11/24

Cop: Azerbaijan president criticises ‘petrostate’ label

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Cop: UN chief reiterates economic force of transition

12/11/24

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12/11/24

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IAEA chief sees ‘good sign’ ahead of Iran visit

12/11/24

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12/11/24

IAEA chief sees ‘good sign’ ahead of Iran visit

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