New Fortress secures new FSRU for Old Harbour LNG
US firm New Fortress Energy has secured a charter for a new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at its Old Harbour LNG import facility in Jamaica.
New Fortress signed a 10-year charter agreement with Norwegian shipowner Hoegh LNG for the 144,300m³ Hoegh Gallant FSRU, starting in the fourth quarter of this year, Hoegh LNG said.
The vessel will replace Old Harbour's existing 125,000m³ Golar Freeze FSRU, which received its first cargo in January 2019, data from oil analytics firm Vortexa show. Jamaica's second LNG import terminal, the Montego Bay facility, is also owned by New Fortress.
Jamaican LNG imports rose to 497,900t of LNG in January-August, up from 331,800t a year earlier, Vortexa data show.
The Hoegh Gallant previously operated as an import facility in Egypt under a charter contract with state-owned firm Egas running until April 2020, but was released in October 2018 after the shipowner agreed to amend the terms of the original contract, enabling the vessel to be redeployed as an LNG carrier. The vessel had been operating as an LNG carrier on the short-term charter market this year.
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India to tweak law to ease doing upstream business
India to tweak law to ease doing upstream business
Mumbai, 6 August (Argus) — India has introduced legislation in the upper house of parliament to amend an existing law to enhance the ease of doing business in the exploration and production sector. The oil and gas ministry has proposed a "petroleum lease" for exploration and production of mineral oils. It has also expanded the definition of mineral oils to include crude, natural gas, petroleum, condensate, coal-bed methane, oil shale, shale gas, shale oil, tight gas, tight oil and gas hydrate. The legislation proposes to separate mining operations from petroleum operations, which were originally regulated together. It also proposes to grant the petroleum lease on stable terms where its terms will not be altered to the disadvantage of the lessee during the period of the lease, while allows sharing of production facilities and infrastructure. The proposed amendments also include effective dispute resolution, decriminalising some provisions by replacing imprisonment with financial penalties and allowing appeals against the orders of the ruling authority. It also aims to ease energy transition by enabling development of comprehensive energy projects for harnessing wind and solar energy, along with mineral oils at oil fields. It has provisions to use oil fields for production of hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage or coal gasification. The bill has to be passed by both houses of parliament to become law. India has been trying to attract domestic and international investors in the exploration sector by working to promote the ease of doing business in the sector. It also wants to increase domestic output of oil and gas to meet the country's increasing energy demand and reduce dependence on imports. India's crude production during April-June fell by 2pc from a year earlier to 538,000 b/d, oil ministry data show. Its dependence on crude imports for this period eased to 88.3pc from 88.8pc a year earlier. India will offer 25 oil and gas blocks in the tenth upstream bidding round in August or September. It has extended the deadline for the ninth round three times, with the latest to 31 August. Foreign participants have raised key issues with the oil ministry, including those related to indemnity and compensation that are likely to be addressed in the new legislation. Hydrocarbon exploration has been lacking because of the slow implementation of policies. India's upstream licensing has largely been dominated by domestic participants. Indian state-controlled upstream firm ONGC in January won seven of the 10 areas in exploration blocks offered in the eighth upstream bidding round. A private-sector consortium of Reliance Industries and BP, state-controlled upstream firm Oil India and private-sector Sun Petrochemicals received one block each. By Roshni Devi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US services sector expanded in July, jobs grew: Survey
US services sector expanded in July, jobs grew: Survey
Houston, 5 August (Argus) — A measure of US services sector activity grew in July, showing the largest part of the economy expanded last month even as manufacturing contracted. The services purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 51.4 in July from 48.8 in June, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said today. Readings above 50 signal expansion while those under that threshold signal contraction. Services, which account for more than two thirds of the economy, have contracted twice in the last four months, but only three times since early in the Covid-19 pandemic. The report, showing the largest part of the US economy has continued to expand, follows a report on 2 August from the Labor Department that showed only 114,000 jobs were generated in July , much fewer than expected, which sparked a sharp selloff in global stocks, oil and other commodities amid concerns of possible recession. Also last week, the Federal Reserve kept its target rate unchanged, but signaled a cut was likely in September. The business activity/production index in today's report registered 54.5 in July, compared with the 49.6 recorded in June. The new orders index expanded to 52.4 in July, from 47.3 the prior month. The employment index expanded for just a second time in 2024, rising to 51.1 in July from 46.1 the prior month. The report appeared to counter some of the concerns stemming from the July employment report. The prices index rose to 57 from 56.3. "Survey respondents again reported that increased costs are impacting their businesses, with generally positive commentary on business activity being flat or expanding gradually," ISM said. "Comments continued to express a wait-and-see attitude regarding the upcoming presidential election." The ISM services report today follows an ISM report last week showing manufacturing PMI for July fell to 46.6, the deepest contraction in manufacturing since last November, from 48.5 in June. It was the 20th contraction in 21 months. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Iran gathers envoys to lay ground for Israel response
Iran gathers envoys to lay ground for Israel response
Dubai, 5 August (Argus) — Iran's foreign ministry on Monday convened a meeting of foreign ambassadors and representatives to lay down a "legal case" for retaliation it is planning against Israel for the assassination of Palestinian group Hamas' chief in Tehran last week, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri-Kani "was mostly trying to lay down the case that would justify Iran's response [to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh]," the source said. "He said the response would be definite and decisive, but did not say when it would come or how." The meeting came as numerous countries, in the Mideast Gulf and elsewhere, pressed on with round-the-clock efforts to try to contain the situation. Haniyeh was killed on 31 July while in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the day prior. State television had shown him present at the ceremony. Israel has not explicitly acknowledged its involvement. But Iranian officials have little doubt that Israel was behind the hit, particularly given rising tensions emanating from the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. "All the evidence and indications clearly show that the Zionist regime is behind this vile and despicable act," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said today at his weekly press briefing, referring to Israel. Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi was in Tehran on Sunday, 4 August, to discuss escalating regional tensions with Bagheri-Kani. "We want our region to live in security, peace and stability, and want the escalation to end," Safadi said. Prior to the visit, Safadi had said Jordan would not accept being dragged into the escalation. "If there is any escalation, our first priority is to protect Jordan and the safety of Jordanians," he said. "Anyone who wants to violate our skies, we will confront that." Relations between Amman and Tehran have soured since Iran launched its first ever direct attack on Israel on 13 April , a response to an Israeli attack on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. Jordan, which borders Israel, helped shoot down at least some of the more than 300 Iranian missiles and drones that had entered its airspace, headed for Israeli targets. When and how? Iranian officials are adamant that the country will retaliate for the assassination in Tehran, and will do so in a serious manner. "When the Zionists receive a strong and decisive response, they will know that they made a mistake in their calculations," Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander in chief Hossein Salami said today. There has been no clear indication from Iran about when it will carry out any retaliation, or what form this would take. "The Zionist entity will receive a strike at the appropriate place and time to understand that what it has done is foolish," Salami said. By Bachar Halabi and Nader Itayim Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Israel versus Iran: Round two looming?
Israel versus Iran: Round two looming?
The region is braced for a possible rerun of Iran's April attack on Israel, writes Bachar Halabi Dubai, 4 August (Argus) — The confrontation between the Middle East's two leading military powers — arch-enemies Israel and Iran — has entered a new phase of escalation. Israel is taking the fight to Iranian proxies in Tehran's so-called "Axis of Resistance" as the Gaza campaign dials down, and the risk of a wider conflagration is rising. The conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas has been regionalised from the start, but remained contained even when Iran and Israel traded direct blows for the first time ever in April. Lebanon's Iran-backed militia group, Hezbollah, joined the war on 8 October — the day after Hamas' attack on Israel — by opening what it called a "support front" for Hamas. Iraqi Shia militias and Yemen's Houthis followed suit by claiming to target Israel through a mix of drone and missile strikes, or by attacking global shipping lanes in the Red Sea. But, over the past few weeks, Israel has gone on the offensive against proxy group leaders. Hamas' chief political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on 31 July. Israel neither denied nor confirmed responsibility, but Iran is pointing the finger.The attack in Tehran came only hours after Israel claimed responsibility for a strike in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut that targeted Hezbollah's most senior military commander and one of its founding fathers, Fuad Shukr. And Israel's military on 20 July struck Yemen's Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah, in a first-of-its-kind attack by the Israeli side, in retaliation for a drone attack by the Iran-backed militant group on Tel Aviv a day earlier. "I think when you put them all together, this is really a message to Iran, which has been operating more or less on seven fronts against Israel — Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza," former US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs David Schenker tells Argus. But he also attributes Israel taking things into its own hands to the reticence of the US administration. "There is a division of labour [among Israel and the US] and the Israelis are responsible for their close enemies, while the US is responsible for the Houthis." Calculations trump ceasefire A regional diplomatic source sees a different impetus: "I think [Israel's] bold moves are the result of the withdrawal of President Biden from the presidential race" which frees him from electoral calculations. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has no intention of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza before the outcome of the US election is known. He believes that a potential Trump administration would be more understanding of Israel's future plans for Gaza", the source says. The region is now bracing for a possible rerun of Iran's 13 April attack on Israel, except that the risk of miscalculation is higher, with the axis vowing revenge. "We are looking for a real response, not a performative response," Hezbollah's secretary general Hassan Nasrallah said on 1 August. The US, EU and many Mideast Gulf countries are trying to contain the situation. "Hezbollah and Iran want to avoid a full-scale war with Israel and their responses to the recent wave of assassinations will be measured to avoid dragging themselves into a situation of total regional war that could also drag in the US," the diplomatic source says. Iran, however, finds itself in a tough situation, with what happened in Tehran being "incredibly embarrassing for Iranian officials", according to Schenker. The questions now are when and how it might respond. With Israel also targeting Hezbollah in Beirut, the group might yet lead that response. "They're going to do something big… but they're going to try to calibrate [it] with not going for a full-scale war," Schenker predicts. The axis' retaliation could come within days, or it could take weeks. How Netanyahu then reacts to it could shape the regional confrontation for months or years to come. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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