Following the coronavirus situation, two of the biggest European energy companies denied a Chinese force majeure upon the LNG deals. Specifically, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA did not accept the legal grounds of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) decision.
A giant LNG bunker vessel, which will be operated by French energy giant Total and owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), has completed its sea trials in China earlier this week. The 18,600 cbm newbuilding, which is the world’s largest vessel of this type, is currently under construction at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding’s shipyard near Shanghai.
The world’s oil and gas explorers discovered 12.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in 2019, the highest volume since 2015, according to estimates from Rystad Energy. Last year recorded 26 discoveries of over 100 million boe, with offshore regions leading the list of new oil and gas deposits.
Oil and gas giants are looking to sell assets that could fetch a total of $27.5 billion, as they are actively shedding mature assets on a massive scale in a bid to finance higher-yielding investments elsewhere, according to energy research firm Rystad Energy.
A leading group of oil and gas operators have teamed up on a joint industry project with the aim of making subsea gas separation a reality. Subsea gas separation has the potential to make CO2-rich gas fields commercially viable.
Total, the French energy giant and LNG player, is aiming to restart LNG production at the Balhaf facility operated by Yemen LNG in the future, in which Total has an interest of 39.6%. In April 2015, the Yemen LNG plant was forced to switch to preservation mode, due to the ongoing conflict in Yemen and growing insecurity around the Balhaf site. Total notes that its actions since then intended to ensure the safety of local employees, and further preserve the Balhaf site so that it can resume LNG production once peace is been restored in the country.
French oil and gas company Total announced that it will focus its global venture fund on fostering carbon neutrality. The fund, to be known as Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures (TCNV), will support start-ups that develop innovative technologies for helping companies to reduce their energy consumption or their carbon intensity.
On Monday, October 21, French energy major, Total, signed a shareholders’ agreement with Chinese state-owned Zhejiang Energy Group (ZEG) establishing a joint venture company dedicated to the supply and delivery of marine fuels in the region of Zhoushan, China.
Total informed that its first large LNG bunker vessel has been launched, after the signature of a long-term charter contract between Total and MOL in February 2018.The ship will be delivered in 2020, and it will operate in Northern Europe, supplying LNG to commercial vessels for a period of at least 10 years.
The French shipping company, CMA CGM, launched the largest LNG-powered containership, Jacques Saadé, which is the first of nine 23,000 TEU containerships and future CMA CGM Group flagship. Total, the French energy major sealed the 10-year deal for the supply of approximately 300,000 tons of LNG for the nine containerships annually.
