Sumitomo joins FPSO project in Brazil
Japanese trading house Sumitomo is partnering Malaysian offshore oil services firm Yinson in owning and chartering a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for state-controlled Petrobras' Marlim II project in Brazil.
Sumitomo is taking a 25pc stake in the project, which was awarded to Yinson by Petrobras in October last year. Yinson owns the remaining stake. The partners plan to charter the FPSO for 25 years from the start of 2023 with the completion of the vessel's conversion work in Qidong, China.
The vessel will be deployed at the Marlim oil field in the Campos basin, around 130km offshore Rio de Janeiro. The FPSO will be able to process around 70,000 b/d of crude and 4mn m³/d of natural gas.
The Marlim deal continues the firms' partnership on FPSO and floating storage and offloading vessel ventures agreed in April 2018. Sumitomo and Yinson have worked together on Italian firm Eni's Offshore Cape Three Points block in Ghana since June 2017.
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New Libyan firm starts exporting crude
New Libyan firm starts exporting crude
London, 16 July (Argus) — A little known Libyan upstream company has begun exporting crude with its first shipment heading to China, according to sources, official documents and ship-tracking data seen by Argus . Arkenu Oil Company, which describes itself as a private oil and gas development and production firm, exported 1mn bl of Sarir/Mesla blend crude from Libya's Marsa El Hariga oil terminal on 10 July on Suezmax-class tanker Zeus . Shipping agent and port reports list Chinese trading firm Unipec as the vessel's charterer. The tanker's bill of lading lists Libyan state-owned NOC as the sender of the consignment on behalf of Arkenu. Libyan crude sales have historically been the reserve of NOC and a handful of international oil companies that hold equity stakes in production assets in the country, including Italy's Eni, TotalEnergies and Austria's OMV. Turkey-based commodities trader BGN, which does not have any upstream production in Libya, also regularly appears on loading programmes as a seller of the country's crude. A document dated 10 July showed NOC had allocated to Arkenu an unspecified share of production from its subsidiary Agoco's Sarir and Mesla fields, in return for carrying out upstream development work on the fields. The arrangement implies Agoco is paying for Arkenu's services in the form of crude. Arkenu's 1mn bl cargo is worth around $84mn at current market rates, Argus estimates. Arkenu, set up in early 2023 in the eastern city of Benghazi, says it owns modern drilling rigs and has a team of experts "who have held high positions in major oil production and development companies". It is unclear what work Arkenu has carried out for Agoco. Sarir and Mesla accounted for most of Agoco's 279,000 b/d of output in 2023. Libya is politically divided between an internationally recognised administration in the west, which has historically controlled oil revenues, and a rival administration in the east, which is home to around three-quarters of the country's oil production capacity. Agoco is based in the east, and NOC in the west. Libya produces just over 1.2mn b/d of crude. Its oil export revenues were $30.7bn in 2023, according to Opec. Arkenu, NOC and Unipec have been contacted for comment. By Aydin Calik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s Imabari delivers LNG-fuelled car carrier
Japan’s Imabari delivers LNG-fuelled car carrier
Tokyo, 16 July (Argus) — Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding delivered an LNG-fuelled car carrier this month to domestic shipping company Mitsui OSK Line (Mol), as Mol targets 90 LNG or methanol-fuelled ships in its fleet by 2030. Imabari supplied on 12 July the Turquoise Ace with capacity for 7,000 cars. It is designed to consume boil-off gas generated within the vessel's fuel LNG tank, expected to curb carbon dioxide emissions by 25-30pc, sulphur oxide emissions by almost 100pc and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80-90pc. The ship was built by Imabari's group company Tadotsu Shipyard in west Japan's Kagawa prefecture. Mol is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 by boosting the number of its LNG- and methanol-fuelled vessels. The firm has commissioned another LNG-fuelled car carrier the Cerulean Ace with capacity for 7,050 cars, while it plans to charter an LNG-fuelled bulk carrier for utility Kansai Electric Power to deliver coal to Kansai's Maizuru power complex in 2026. By Nanami Oki Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Trump taps Vance as running mate for 2024
Trump taps Vance as running mate for 2024
Washington, 15 July (Argus) — Former president Donald Trump has selected US senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his vice presidential pick for his 2024 campaign, elevating a former venture capitalist and close ally to become his running mate in the election. Vance, 39, is best known for his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy that documented his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio, and his Appalachian roots. In the run-up to the presidential elections in 2016, Vance said he was "a never Trump guy" and called Trump "reprehensible." But he has since become one of Trump's top supporters and adopted many of his policies on the economy and immigration. Vance voted against providing more military aid to Ukraine and pushed Europe to spend more on defense. Trump said he chose his running mate after "lengthy deliberation and thought," citing Vance's service in the military, his law degree and his business career, which included launching venture capital firm Narya in 2020. Vance will do "everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump said today in a social media post. Like Trump, Vance has pushed to increase domestic oil and gas production and criticized government support for electric vehicles. President Joe Biden's energy policies have been "at war" with workers in states that are struggling because of the importance of low-cost energy to manufacturing, Vance said last month in an interview with Fox News. Trump made the announcement about Vance on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and just two days after surviving an assassination attempt during a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Earlier today, federal district court judge Aileen Cannon threw out a felony indictment that alleged Trump had mishandled classified government documents after leaving office. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Polish gas reforms still needed: Energy Traders Europe
Polish gas reforms still needed: Energy Traders Europe
London, 15 July (Argus) — Recent government plans to amend Poland's onerous gas storage legislation are positive, but more serious reforms are necessary to foster increased competition, industry association Energy Traders Europe told Argus . The Polish government last month said it plans to amend the Act on Stocks in November , removing importers' obligation to maintain mandatory gas storage reserves and placing it on state-owned strategic reserves agency Rars instead. Energy Traders Europe welcomed the move but recommended several further steps to bolster competition and liquidity. The Act on Stocks "needs to be revised first and fast" before addressing other issues in the market, the association's gas market manager, Pawel Lont, told Argus . While shifting the obligation to Rars is a positive first step, Poland would still have "state-enforced storage filling with hardly any capacity left for commercial use", which removes an important flexibility source for the market, he said. Ultimately, storage needs to be reformed to a point at which commercial filling becomes not only possible but desired, Lont said. The government needs to ensure that the system provides an incentive for the storage operator to offer products that are attractive to users, Lont said, noting that currently "this incentive simply does not exist, and this set-up can only inflate the costs of gas consumption in Poland". Energy Traders Europe previously suggested that the strategic reserve should be calculated against the demand of vulnerable customers only, as opposed to all consumers, which would significantly reduce the overall burden and free up space for commercial use. It would also be desirable to move the start date of the draft storage legislation to 1 April 2025 and ensure that licence applications declaring the intention to start commercial activity after this date are tested for compliance with these new rules. It can take a year or more for licence applications to be approved, so "the sooner we start, the better", Lont said, adding that the licensing procedure in Poland is "undoubtedly the most problematic in all of Europe". Applications involve a long list of documents that are difficult to complete in a timely manner. There are also issues on the reporting side, with "an impressive list of 20+ positions reported to different bodies at different points in time" on top of standard EU reporting, Lont said. These obligations create exposure and considerable costs for companies, so it would be beneficial to run a critical review on their necessity, he said. And Polish transmission tariffs are high, although this is understandable given Gaz-System's construction of interconnectors with several neighbouring countries over the past few years. Polish tariffs are decided yearly, while entry/exit splits can also be adjusted, which is problematic for trading companies that would like to book longer-term products. The multipliers and seasonal factors "definitely deserve some rethinking as they severely inflate the costs of short-term capacity products, while booking yearly products in Poland can be quite a bet", he said. But even if these other issues are addressed, "We will [still] be looking at a largely monopolised country, with the dominant player having exclusive access to LNG terminals", Lont said. While the gas release programme is positive for the market, it would be beneficial to see whether Orlen's dominance could be challenged at import terminals. Orlen has booked all capacity at the Swinoujscie terminal, as well as at the planned Gdansk terminal, meaning it continues to be the sole beneficiary of the 100pc discount on entry to the grid from LNG terminals. Several measures could be taken to open other companies' access to the terminals, such as secondary capacity trading, use-it-or-lose-it rules or set-aside rules and limits when allocating capacity to a single entity, Lont said. But these measures would be ineffectual without a guarantee that other firms are ready and willing to book this capacity, so the reforms discussed above need to come first so as to ensure that these participants can actively trade in Poland beforehand, Lont said. In general, it is not unusual to have a dominant company in a given country, but "one just needs an environment in which the group cannot abuse its position and its offer can be challenged", he said. Orlen had a 91pc share of the Polish retail market last year, according to regulator URE. Poland has "all the cards" to develop a liquid gas market, but this takes time, so reforms must get going as soon as possible. Since the change of government, it has at least become "much easier to approach the ministries in Poland", which "helps a great deal on the transparency side", Lont said. By Brendan A'Hearn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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