Brazil signs decree to increase natural gas sales

Market: Natural gas
26/08/24

Brazil's federal government adopted a decree today to increase natural gas deliveries to the market, hoping to reduce prices.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and mines and energy minister Alexandre Silveira signed the decree during a national energy policy council CNPE meeting.

The decree is based on Lula's gas for jobs program and would allow hydrocarbon regulator ANP to order companies to increase natural gas production for sale to the market. Many companies working in Brazil's pre-salt fields choose instead to re-inject gas to optimize oil recovery.

By Betina Moura

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16/05/25

Trump says US will soon set new tariff rates

Washington, 16 May (Argus) — The US will unilaterally set new tariff rates on imports from select trading partners instead of holding negotiations over import tax levels, President Donald Trump said today. In the next 2-3 weeks "we'll be telling people what they will be paying to do business in the US," Trump told a group of US and UAE business executives in Abu Dhabi today. Trump contended that more than 150 US trading partners have expressed interest in negotiating with his administration, adding that "you're not able to see that many countries." Trump's administration since 5 April imposed a 10pc baseline tariff on imports from nearly every US trading partner — with the notable exception of Canada, Mexico and Russia. Trump paused his so-called "reciprocal tariffs" until 8 July, nominally to give his administration time to negotiate with foreign countries subject to those punitive rates. The reciprocal tariffs would have added another 10pc on top of his baseline tariff for imports from the EU, while the cumulative rate would have been as high as 69pc on imports from Vietnam. Trump in April suggested that 200 deals with foreign trade partners were in the works. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said the US is only negotiating with the top 18 trading partners. The trade "deals" clinched by the Trump administration so far merely set out terms of negotiations for agreements to be negotiated at a later date. The US-UK preliminary deal would keep the US tariff rate on imports from the UK at 10pc, while providing a quota for UK-manufactured cars and, possibly, for steel and aluminum. The US-UK document, concluded on 9 May, explicitly states that it "does not constitute a legally binding agreement." The US-China understanding, reached on 12 May, went further by rolling back some of the punitive tariff rates but left larger trade issues to be resolved at a later date. The Trump administration would keep in place a 20pc extra tariff imposed on imports from China in February-March and a 10pc baseline reciprocal tariff imposed in April. The US will pause its additional 24pc reciprocal tariff on imports from China until 10 August. Conversely, China will keep in place tariffs of 10-15pc on US energy commodity imports that it imposed on 4 February, and 10-15pc tariffs on US agricultural imports, imposed in March. It will maintain a 10pc tariff on all imports from the US that was imposed in April, but will pause an additional 24pc tariff on all US imports until 10 August. These rates are on top of baseline import tariffs that the US and China were charging before January 2025. By Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Kuwait's Kufpec gets OK to develop Indonesian gas field

16/05/25

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16/05/25

Kuwait's Kufpec gets OK to develop Indonesian gas field

Singapore, 16 May (Argus) — Kuwait's Kufpec, a unit of state-owned KPC, has won approval from the Indonesian government for a plan of development for the Anambas gas field located in the West Natuna Sea offshore Indonesia. The Anambas field is located in the Natuna basin and has an estimated gas output of about 55mn ft³/d. Kufpec will invest around $1.54bn into the development of the field, which is planned to come on stream in 2028. The approved plan of development outlines a phased strategy to unlock the gas and condensate potential of the field, said upstream regulator SKK Migas. The regulator will encourage Kufpec to accelerate efforts and bring the project on stream by the fourth quarter of 2027, said the head of SKK Migas, Djoko Siswanto. The development of the field will include drilling production wells and installing subsea pipelines to transport gas from Anambas to existing facilities in the West Natuna transportation system. Kufpec in 2022 announced the discovery of gas and condensate at the Anambas-2X well in the Anambas block. The Anambas block was awarded to Kufpec Indonesia in 2019 through a bidding process. The company holds a 100pc participating interest in the block and has a 30-year production sharing licence, including a six-year exploration period. The approval of the plan of development marks a step towards the project's final investment decision. It also shows that the upstream oil and gas sector in Indonesia is still attractive to domestic and foreign firms, said Djoko. The field is expected to be able to transport gas to domestic and regional markets, support Indonesia's energy security, and drive economic growth, according to SKK Migas. Indonesia continues to prioritise oil and gas expansion to maintain economic growth. Investment in oil and gas rose from $14.9bn in 2023 to $17.5bn in 2024, according to the country's energy ministry. By Prethika Nair Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Greece’s Alexandroupolis LNG off line until mid-Aug

15/05/25

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15/05/25

Greece’s Alexandroupolis LNG off line until mid-Aug

London, 15 May (Argus) — Greece's 4.3mn t/yr Alexandroupolis LNG import terminal will remain off line until 15 August, after which it will return to 25pc of capacity for the remainder of the gas year, an updated urgent market message (UMM) from operator Gastrade says. The terminal has been off line since 28 January because of damage to the booster pumps on the floating storage and regasification unit, Gastrade said, and it will remain fully unavailable until 15 August, after which onward regasification services will resume capped at 25pc of maximum capacity, or about 42 GWh/d, with available redundancy for the booster pumps. This availability will be offered for 15 August-30 September only under "certain operational and commercial conditions", Gastrade specified, and several market participants were unsure of what this phrase meant or whether regasification would in fact be possible at all during this period. From the start of the new gas year on 1 October, the 25pc cap will be lifted, but "certain operation constraints may remain for a limited period of time", the operator said. The previous version of the the UMM listed the shutdown end date as 15 May, although Gastrade had already told Argus in April that it did not expect to return to full operations until October . By Brendan A'Hearn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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SEFE sells only 900GWh of Rehden gas storage space

15/05/25

News

15/05/25

SEFE sells only 900GWh of Rehden gas storage space

London, 15 May (Argus) — German gas storage operator Sefe sold less than a fifth of the capacity on offer at its Rehden site in an auction on Thursday — the first capacity sold at the site for the current storage year. Sefe offered 5TWh and received bids in excess of this, but said it allocated only 900GWh, suggesting most bids were below its reserve price. German THE prices for delivery over the remainder of the summer, including the balance-of-May market, closed €2.08/MWh below the following winter price and €2.18/MWh below the first-quarter 2026 price on Wednesday. The 900GWh was the first allocated space at the site for the current storage year, after one unsuccessful auction in January and one last week. The German government last month halved the mandatory fill level at the site to 45pc by 1 November. Now there is capacity booked, there might be scope for Rehden not to be fully emptied, given that there is still 1.1TWh of gas in the 45TWh site. There is a two-month period during which capacity holders can withdraw their gas after the beginning of the storage year, and withdrawals have continued at the site since 1 April. Sefe said it will publish further details on upcoming auctions for the capacity not yet marketed "in a timely manner". Injections at Rehden would have to start by 17 August to meet the 45pc mandate, according to Argus calculations, factoring in 18.5 days of maintenance in October. Under the previous 90pc mandate, injections would have had to start before the end of May, taking Rehden's injection curve into account. By Till Stehr Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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France consults on expanded biofuels mandate

15/05/25

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15/05/25

France consults on expanded biofuels mandate

London, 15 May (Argus) — France has opened consultation on the transposition of part of the recast renewable energy directive (RED III) into national law, which would replace the current system with a new one called "incentive for the reduction of the carbon intensity of fuels" (IRICC). The proposal introduces two separate sets of requirements for transport fuels. The first is for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, broken down by transport sectors — road, aviation, maritime, LPG and natural gas for vehicles, which could be CNG or LNG (see table). In the current draft, the GHG reduction target for the road sector will start at 5.9pc in 2026, rising to 10.6pc in 2030 and 18.7pc in 2035. For aviation, the target starts at 2.5pc in 2026, rising to 5.8pc in 2030 and 18.8pc in 2035. The GHG mandate levels include a gradual phasing-in of new fuel sectors – river and maritime fuels, fuel gasses, and aviation. To meet the overall RED III target of 14.5pc emissions reduction by 2030, the national French target includes the biofuels mandates, a share for rail transport, and a share or private vehicle charging. The second set of requirements is a renewable fuel requirement by energy content, which is broken down by fuel type — diesel, gasoline, LPG and natural gas fuels and marine fuel (see table). The blending requirements for diesel start at 9pc in 2026, rising to 11.4pc in 2030 and 16pc in 2035. For gasoline, the mandates start at 9.5pc in 2026, rising to 10.5pc in 2030 and 14.5pc in 2035. Finally, the proposal includes a set of sub-mandates for advanced fuels and renewable hydrogen . The advanced biofuels mandate would start at 0.7pc in 2026, rising to 1.95pc in 2030 and 2.6pc in 2035. Users of renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) would not be subject to the advanced sub-mandate. In feedstock restrictions, the crop cap will rise to 7pc from 6.2pc in 2030 and 2035, while the limit for fuels made from feedstocks found in Annex IX-B of RED will be at 0.6pc in 2026, 0.7pc in 2030 and 1pc in 2035 for diesel and petrol. Aviation fuel will not have a IX-B cap until 2030, and from then it will be 6pc. Mandate compliance would be managed by a certificate system through the CarbuRe registry, with a compliance deadline of 1 March the following year. Public electric vehicle charging would also generate tickets, although the amount of tickets generated by charging light passenger vehicles would be reduced from 2031 to reach 50pc in 2035. Renewable hydrogen used in transport would also generate tickets counting towards the hydrogen sub-quota and reduce the overall GHG savings requirement. Public charging stations will start generating fewer tickets for electric passenger vehicles from 2031 to 50pc by 2035. France is also considering steep penalties for non-compliance, at €700/t CO2 not avoided for the GHG reduction requirement and at €40/GJ for the fuel targets. The penalty for not meeting hydrogen and advanced fuel sub-targets would be doubled, at €80/GJ. The consultation is open for comments until 10 June. By Simone Burgin Proposed GHG reduction by transport sector % 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 Road and non-road diesel 5.9 7.1 8.3 9.5 10.6 13.2 14.8 16.2 17.5 18.7 Aviation 2.5 3.3 4.1 4.9 5.8 8.4 10.8 13.3 15.9 18.7 RFNBO sub-target (% en.) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.2 1.2 2.0 2.0 2.0 5.0 Maritime 2.5 3.25 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.5 RFNBO sub-target (% en.) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 2.0 2.0 LPG and natural gas fuels 0.0 0.0 2.7 6.3 10.6 13.2 14.8 16.2 17.5 18.7 DGEC Proposed energy content mandate by fuel type % (en.) 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 Diesel 9.0 9.5 10.1 10.7 11.4 12.2 13.0 13.8 14.9 16.0 Petrol 9.5 9.7 10.0 10.2 10.5 11.1 11.8 12.6 13.4 14.5 Natural gas fuels 0.0 0.0 3.0 7.0 12.0 15.0 16.0 18.0 19.0 21.0 LPG 0.0 0.0 3.0 7.0 12.0 15.0 16.0 18.0 19.0 21.0 Marine fuel 2.9 3.8 4.7 5.9 7.1 8.2 9.4 11.8 14.1 17.1 DGEC Proposed caps and sub-targets % (en.) 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 Feedstock caps Crop feedstocks 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.8 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 Annex IX-B feedstocks* 0.6 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 1.0 Cat. 3 tallow 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 Tall oil 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.2 Fuel sub-targets Advanced feedstocks 0.7 0.95 1.25 1.6 1.95 2.0 2.1 2.25 2.4 2.6 RFNBOs/Renewable hydrogen 0.05 0.2 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 *For diesel and petrol Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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