DMEA: Saudi Aramco to reduce supply of oil to China, India
Saudi Aramco is set to reduce its supply of crude oil to customers in China and India due to upcoming oilfield maintenance, according to comments made by five sources on March 11. The plans for reduction come following a decision by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies (OPEC+) to extend voluntary oil output cuts of 2.2mn barrels per day (bpd) into Q2 in early March, due to benchmark prices remaining range-bound – mostly due to expectations of weak demand growth and extra supply from non-OPEC producers that are able to meet most upcoming demands in 2024.
Venture Global LNG to buy fleet of LNG vessels
Venture Global LNG said on Sunday it would acquire a fleet of nine liquefied natural gas(LNG) transport vessels, expanding its ability to sell and ship its own cargoes. Venture Global has exported hundreds of cargoes since it started liquefying gas for export in 2022 from the first of its three planned facilities in Louisiana. The vessels it used were owned by other companies and leased. The nine vessels in Venture Global’s future fleet will be built in South Korea with the first to be delivered later this year, the Arlington, Virginia-based company said. The company has shipped more than 250 cargoes under its own account from the first plant, called Calcasieu Pass, sparking complaints from big-name energy companies holding long-term contracts that the sales should have been made available to them.
Reliance on oil imports rises in April-February, likely to hit fresh full-year high in FY24
Growing demand for fuel and other petroleum productsamid stagnant domestic crude oil output resulted in India’s reliance on imported crude increasing to nearly 88 per cent in April-February, indicating that oil import dependency for the full financial year 2023-24 (FY24) could breach the all-time-high FY23 levels. As per latest data released by the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), the country’s oil import dependency was 87.7 per cent in the 11 months to February, up from 87.2 per cent in the corresponding period FY23. For full FY23, reliance on imported oil was 87.4 per cent. According to industry insiders, like in the last financial year, import dependency in crude oil for the entire FY24 could be a tad higher than the April-February level. Given the energy demand, reliance on oil imports has been rising continuously over the past few years, except for FY21, when demand was suppressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reliance on imported crude to meet domestic demand stood at 85.5 per cent in FY22, 84.4 per cent in FY21, 85 per cent in FY20, and 83.8 per cent in FY19. The government wants to reduce India’s extreme reliance on imported crude oil but sluggish domestic oil output in the face of incessantly growing demand for petroleum products has been the biggest roadblock. In 2015, the government had set a target to reduce reliance on oil imports to 67 per cent by 2022 from 77 per cent in FY14, but the dependency has only grown since. Heavy reliance on imported crude oil makes the Indian economy vulnerable to global oil price volatility, apart from having a bearing on the country’s foreign trade deficit, foreign exchange reserves, rupee’s exchange rate, and inflation.
India’s LNG imports jump in February
India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports jumped in February compared to the same month in 2023, according to the preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. The country imported about 2.44 billion cubic meters, or about 1.8 million tonnes of LNG, in February via long-term contracts and spot purchases, a rise of 33.3 percent compared to the same month in 2023, PPAC said. During April 2023-February 2024, India took 27.93 bcm of LNG, or some 21 million tonnes, up by 17.6 percent, PPAC said. India paid $1.1 billion for February LNG imports, the same amount as in the year before, and $12 billion in April-February, down from $15.9 billion in the year before, it said. As per India’s natural gas production, it reached 2.47 bcm in February, up by 11.1 percent compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. During April-February, gas production rose by 5.7 percent to about 33.2 bcm, PPAC said. At the moment, India imports LNG via seven facilities with a combined capacity of about 47.7 million tonnes. These include Petronet LNG’s Dahej and Kochi terminals, Shell’s Hazira terminal, and the Dabhol LNG, Ennore LNG, Mundra LNG, and Dhamra LNG terminal. During April 2023-January 2024, the17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 95.3 percent capacity, while the 5.2 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 32.6 percent capacity, PPAC said. The 5 mtpa Dhamra LNG terminal operated at 24.6 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Dabhol LNG terminal operated at 39.4 percent capacity, and the 5 mtpa Kochi LNG terminal operated at 20.6 percent capacity, it said.