Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell for the fourth week in a row, with traders expecting a further slide due to abundant supplies, full inventories and mild weather. The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast Asia LNG-AS was estimated at $5.40 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), $0.30/mmbtu down from last week. The January delivery price is around $5.90/mmBtu, market sources said. “Clearly there is no buying demand on the market. All inventories across the world are high, production is strong and the weather seems ...

Natural gas is a clean and versatile energy source that unlocks an opportunity for the planet to reliably meet the globally growing energy demand, reducing GHG emissions and urban pollution and allowing economies to grow. The European Investment Bank’s (EIB) decision to stop the financing of fossil fuel energy projects, which includes natural gas, stands in conflict with its parallel commitment to align financing activities with the goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Natural gas is an essential component of the global energy mix if there is any hope ...

Feedgas deliveries to the six major US LNG export facilities were near a record Friday, even as warm weather was on the way to parts of Europe and Asian forward prices were at their lowest-ever December level, S&P Global Platts Analytics data show. Positive netbacks to the Gulf Coast from both regions, sub-$3/MMBtu domestic supplies and strong underlying global market fundamentals such as the increasing transition to gas to fuel power plants are key to the bet that American producers are making heading into the heart of the winter. The ...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Natural Gas Annual 2018 shows that the United States set new records in natural gas production, consumption, and exports in 2018. In 2018, dry natural gas production increased by 12%, reaching a record-high average of 83.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). This increase was the largest percentage increase since 1951 and the largest volumetric increase in the history of the series, which dates back to 1930. U.S. natural gas consumption increased by 11% in 2018, driven by increased natural gas consumption in the ...

The Europeans are coming for America’s power markets. Prodded by their own governments into slashing emissions and getting out of coal, European companies are a step ahead of their U.S. counter parts. Orsted A/S, the world’s biggest offshore wind developer, in October opened an office in Chicago, while Danske Commodities A/S set up a subsidiary in Connecticut in the summer. Oil trader Trafigura Group Ltd. is also expanding into electricity. The European and U.S. markets are the most mature in the world and transparency has increased greatly in the past ...

British wholesale gas prices were mostly lower on Friday morning as UK domestic production ramped up following an outage. * The within-day contract was down 1.50 pence at 38.00 pence per therm at 0907 GMT. * The system was oversupplied by around 16 million cubic metres (mcm), with demand forecast at 301 mcm and flows at 317 mcm/day, National Grid data shows. * Oversupply is mainly due to lower consumption on Friday and the ramp up of UK domestic production as the Culzean field has come back online from an ...

China’s emissions of the climate-warming greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from its energy sector are expected to increase this year and next, driven by rising oil and gas consumption instead of by coal, a team of industry experts warned on Thursday. The oil and gas sectors could add more than 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to China’s total emissions, meaning overall greenhouse gas from energy use would still rise 2% this year and 1.2% in 2020, said researchers with the “China Coal Cap Research Project” at a Thursday briefing. Meanwhile, ...

Refiners are paying nine times what they were paying three years ago for a limited supply of sulfur credits, with prices surging ahead of a year-end deadline for the industry to comply with U.S. smog-busting regulations, according to industry sources. The credits are trading for more than $4,000 a credit, the sources said, up more than 900% from the end of 2016, when new emissions standards for gasoline went into effect, trading sources said this week. Sulfur credits are awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency once a year to ...

LNG delivered into the Mediterranean has fallen to a two-year low versus Northwest European, weighed on by a surplus of supply into key regions like Spain alongside pressure from Spanish PVB/Dutch TTF gas hub spreads. The S&P Global Platts Med Marker was assessed at $4.558/MMBtu Wednesday, a 5 cents/MMBtu discount to the DES NWE price. It was the first time the Mediterranean market, which typically trades at a premium to Northwest Europe, has been at a discount since February and was the biggest discount since December 2017. The fall in ...

Launches are in focus in Africa, with the startup of the Mostorod refinery in Egypt and news emerging around projects in Algeria. NEAR-TERM AND FUTURE NEW AND REVISED ENTRIES –The Engen refinery at Durban, South Africa, has completed its maintenance, the company said. Bunker sources reported earlier that the refinery has started offering 180 CST fuel oil for bunkers on the spot market, following a period of maintenance. The Durban bunker market has been tight for several weeks, which traders attributed to the turnaround. The refinery has been carrying out ...

China’s crude oil throughput in October rose 9.2% from a year earlier to the second-highest on record, as refineries in the world’s second-biggest oil consumer and top importer ramped up output after returning from plant maintenance. Last month, crude processing volumes were 57.84 million tonnes, or about 13.62 million barrels per day (bpd), below the record of 13.75 million bpd reached in September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday. “Most of the refineries have resumed operations from maintenance and have kept a relatively high processing rate ...

Prompt British wholesale gas prices were mixed in quiet trade on Thursday morning, with higher supply expected in the coming days and reduced consumption. * The within-day contract was down 0.40 pence at 38.90 p/therm by 1010 GMT. * Britain’s gas system was slightly oversupplied, with demand forecast at 306.6 mcm and supply at 310.9 mcm/day, National Grid data showed. * Imports from Norway were stable on Thursday, according to Gassco data. * Maintenance at the Culzean gas field of the UK Continental Shelf is expected to end tomorrow, ramping ...

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which wants to invest $45 billion in its downstream sector with partners, is looking for projects in China, India and Indonesia, as well as developing refining and petrochemical facilities in the UAE, a company executive said Thursday. ADNOC has a total domestic refining capacity of 922,000 b/d and is looking to add another 600,000 b/d by the end of 2025 and more than triple local petrochemical production to 14.5 million mt/year by 2025 in the industrial hub of Ruwais, Abdulaziz al-Hajri, the executive director of ...

Asian refining margins for 10 ppm gasoil rose on Thursday but still hovered near their five-month lows touched in the previous session as the region wrestled with abundant supplies. Refining margins or cracks for 10 ppm gasoil rose to $14.95 per barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trade on Thursday. The cracks had fallen to $14.27 per barrel on Wednesday, their lowest since June 11. The gasoil cracks have declined in recent weeks as some regional refineries return to production after maintenance, while export volumes from state refiners in India ...

China’s comprehensive import price index for liquefied natural gas (LNG) rose last week, according to Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX). The LNG index, not including tax, came in at 3,207 yuan (about 458 U.S. dollars) per tonne from Nov. 4-10, 2019, up 0.03 percent from the reading of 3,206 yuan per tonne the week before. The index, jointly developed by a monitoring center under the General Administration of Customs and the SHPGX, was launched on Oct. 16, 2019 and is due on a weekly basis to offer a ...