Russia’s Sakhalin 2 offers 10 LNG cargoes for 2019-2020 – sources
Russia’s Sakhalin 2 has offered 10 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for loading over May 2019 to March 2020, several industry sources said on Tuesday. The cargoes are being offered on either a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis or a free-on-board (FOB) basis, two of them said. They are for loading on May 1, May 30, June 18, June 26, June 28, Sept. 28, Nov. 12, Nov. 30, Dec. 28 and March 22, 2020, one of the sources said. The cargoes will be priced on a JKM-linked basis, a second source said. Bids are due by Feb. 26 and are valid until Feb. 28, the source added.
AITUC condemns plan to auction oil, gas blocks of ONGC, OIL
A central trade union on Monday condemned the plan to privatize 97 oil and gas fields discovered by state-run oil firms, terming it as a “quid pro quo” by the government to corporates. The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) argued that the government has no moral right to take such decisions now as there will not be any session of the Lok Sabha to vet such proposals. “Reports have appeared in the press that a Group of Ministers-GoM- (headed by the Finance Minister and assisted by Ministers of Coal, Commerce, Power, and Petroleum) has received and approved in its very first and last meeting, plans to auction 97 ‘small’ oil and gas fields discovered by ONGC and OIL, the navaratna public sector companies, to private corporates,” the AITUC claimed. A cursory reading of the report shows that the proposal originated in the Prime Minister’s Office, followed by a bureaucratic panel, headed by the CEO of the NITI Aayog and thereafter, rubber-stamped by the GoM, the union said in a statement. The union said that even big fields that will be left for ONGC and OIL to operate, will be saddled with stringent conditions of showing “enhanced production profile”, which, if not adhered to, will also be taken away from them and handed over to the private parties. The AITUC noted that the NITI Aayog recommendations also say that the new private players should not be charged for the past expenses of discovery or development! It needs to be stated here that the worker’s unions in the oil sector have been agitating against such moves including the strike action. They were assured by the concerned management that no such move is being made, it added. The Modi government has no moral right to take such decisions now that there will not be any session of the Lok Sabha to vet such proposals. This seems more like a parting gift by Modi Government to the Corporates in return for the hospitality of the past five years – a quid pro quo!, it alleged. The AITUC called upon the people of India and petroleum workmen unions and officers’ associations to resist this.
Qatar to Buy Up to 60 New LNG Vessels
Qatar Petroleum (QP) is expected to order 60 new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to serve new customers once it ramps up its annual capacity from the current 77 million tonnes (mt) to 110 mt after building four liquefaction trains by 2024. A report in Gulf Times quoted the Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi, who is also president and CEO of QP saying that the state-run oil company has a team, which is in talks with different ship builders worldwide. “It should be between 50 and 60 vessels that we will require to transport the expanded output of LNG. It will be very substantial number, but things will become clear with time,” he said. He added: “We have a dedicated team of experts who are already working on that element (to acquiring vessels). They have visited different shipbuilders around the world. There will be international tenders put in place to procure the ships. Everything is going ahead as per the plan. Asked if Qatar is considering building LNG carriers in the country itself, he said, “We have no such plans as it would be very expensive to build such vessels in the country. We will get them manufactured outside the country.” He said that Nakilat has a large and well-equipped shipyard in Ras Laffan Industrial City and has built a number of vessels with its partners, taking advantage of its expertise and low cost of raw materials and manpower, but the building of LNG carriers needs different expertise, which makes QP mostly geared towards South Korea that has proven its expertise in this field. This is for the second time that he noted that QP is looking to South Korea and other countries for its ship building needs.