China became the world’s biggest importer of natural gas, as it surpassed Japan for the first time. Namely, China imported 7.41 million tons of natural gas, which brought the total amount of imports during 2018 to 34.9 million metric tons. Compared to China, Japan had less natural gas imports, as it imported 34.5 million metric tons.
The Port of Rotterdam Authority called the Dutch Government to create a coalition with countries in North-West Europe, so that a joint CO2 price can be introduced. The Port Authority also announced an incentive of in total 5 million euros for vessel operators experimenting with low-carbon or zero-carbon fuels.
US exports of LNG reached 1.94 billion cubic feet per day in 2017, up from 0.5 Bcf/d in 2016. As LNG exports increased, shipments went to more destinations. US LNG exports in 2017 were all from Louisiana’s Sabine Pass terminal and they were mainly shipped to Mexico; South Korea; and China.
Pipelines that are connected and a safer, greener and cheaper alternative to LNG could take place in the UK North Sea as part of the TechX Pioneer technology accelerator programme. Each company will receive £25,000 seed funding to develop their business and improve the technology through a 6-week programme, which starts at the Oil & Gas Technology Centre in June 2018.
More investments are required for FLNG projects, in order to ensure project sanctioning and success. Despite the FLNG liquefaction long presences, only three units are in the water and operational or under commissioning as of 2018.
Shell Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited are working with the Government of Tanzania to develop cost competitive development options for the Tanzania Gas and LNG project and establishment of the commercial framework for the project.
After a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands province, ExxonMobil and Oil Search announced that they have temporarily shut their operations in the country. The earthquake hit the Southern Highlands about 560 km northwest of the capital, Port Moresby.
The recent announcements by Qatar Petroleum were led by the planned expansion of North Field production, which will enhance Qatar’s position by increasing its LNG production from 77 million to 100 million tons per year. It also came at a time of an increasing international upstream activity,
The increasing vessel supply will put pressure on LNG charter rates in 2018. It also added that its short-term outlook for LNG charter rates is still pessimistic because of the high fleet growth rate compared with demand. In 2017, 43 vessels were planned to be delivered, while only 27 were delivered during the year, with 16 were being delivered in 2018. In 2018 a total of 69 vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2018.
