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Snam Says First Gas Flows Coming from Libya After Stoppage

By Liam Moloney ROME–Snam SpA (SRG.MI), Italy’s biggest natural gas grid operator by pipelines, Wednesday said it is registering the first gas imports from Libya arriving in Sicily after unrest in the North African country blocked flows last week. Libyan gas flows are registered in the Sicilian Gela entry point, said Snam in a message sent via Twitter. It expects 3.5 million cubic meters of gas Wednesday, it added. Eni SpA (E), Italy’s biggest energy company by market value, said Nov. 11 that protesters in Libya had stopped gas exports to Italy. The protesters had blocked the key gas terminal of Mellitah, which is jointly run by Eni and the Libyan National Oil Co. The terminal facilitates gas exports via the Greenstream pipeline that can supply more than 10% of gas demand in Italy. Write to Liam Moloney at [email protected]

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Export nod frustrates Freeport LNG

HOUSTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) — Freeport LNG Chief Executive Officer Michael Smith said he was disappointed with conditions set by the U.S. Department of Energy for a planned Texas terminal. The Department of Energy last week gave Freeport LNG the authority to ship liquefied natural gas from a planned Texas facility to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the United States. The approval was for 1 billion cubic feet per day less than what the company sought. “We’re quite disappointed in the order itself,” Smith told the Platts energy news service Monday. “They’re basically making the rules up as they go along.” The Department of Energy is obligated to pass export applications for countries with a U.S. free trade agreement but may restrict or otherwise modify applications for exports to countries that don’t have such agreements. Smith said he was frustrated with the lack of […]

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US natural gas exports into Mexico to continue growth

Natural gas imports into Mexico from the US—its largest supplier—increased 24% to 1.69 bcfd in 2012, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration cited by Mayer Brown Practices in a legal update on US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permitting of NET Mexico Pipeline Partners LLC’s cross-border gas export project. FERC issued a Presidential Permit and Granting Authorization Nov. 8 (under Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act) allowing NET Mexico, a subsidiary of NET Midstream, Houston, to build a 2.1-bcfd gas export site at the US-Mexico border. According to the FERC order, the export hub will be supplied by a 120-mile, 42-in OD intrastate pipeline NET Mexico is planning to build from the Agua Dulce Hub in Nueces County, Tex. Exports would enter Mexico’s Los Ramones Pipeline, which has yet to be built ( OGJ Online, May 21, 2013 ). The FERC order adds that the export […]

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Ukraine, Gazprom make amends

KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 19 (UPI) — Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said a deal was reached with Russian energy company Gazprom that may avert a winter gas crisis. Gazprom in 2009 cut gas supplies to Ukraine following contractual disputes over payments. In early November, Gazprom said Ukraine had more than $880 million in unsettled debt from its August natural gas bills, sparking fears of another gas spat. Stavytsky said Monday both sides reached an agreement that may stave off another payment row. “We have reached a compromise that will allow Ukraine to timely pay for the natural resources that we receive under the new schedule that has been signed, and meet the needs of all of our partners — on behalf of the supplier of gas — Gazprom and on behalf of the transit [country],” he was quoted by the National News Agency of Ukraine as saying. The minister […]

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Iran State Gas Company Faces Collapse, Hit by Sanctions

Iran’s national gas company said it is facing collapse, the latest sign of deepening economic distress from international sanctions as Tehran seeks urgent relief in talks with world powers. The chief executive officer of state-owned National Iranian Gas Company, Hamid Reza Araghi, said over the weekend that the company has declared bankruptcy, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency. The report said the company had a debt of 100 trillion rials, or about $4 billion. The company tried to backtrack on the comments Monday. Majid Boujarzadeh, a spokesman reached by phone, denied it was bankrupt. But media reports also quoted Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zangeneh, as saying the gas company “is destroyed.” The sanctions, aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, have devastated the country’s critical energy industry. While gas is a relatively small income generator, oil exports, a major revenue source, have been slashed by nearly […]

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Iran needs to extend natural gas pipeline network, official says

TEHRAN, Nov. 18 (UPI) — Iran needs more than 3,700 miles of pipeline installed to respond to domestic needs in the natural gas sector, a gas company director said Monday. Reza Almasi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Transfer Co., said an extension of that length is needed on a gas pipeline network that now covers 21,000 miles, the Fars News Agency reported. Almasi said he was responding to a request from the federal government to overhaul the pipeline network to keep up with domestic demand for natural gas. “Up to the present, [the] gas pipeline network has been designed and built just to connect the feeding points and consumption markets without considering any alternative network for emergency situations, and construction of this extra network requires $15 billion to $20 billion dollars of investments,” he said. Taylor Swift diss by Victoria’s Secret model a misunderstanding Two hospitalized after […]

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Alaska considering stake in gas pipeline, liquefaction project: commissioner

Anchorage (Platts)–18Nov2013/530 pm EST/2230 GMT The Alaska state government is mulling the taking of a stake in a large natural gas pipeline and gas liquefaction project to meet the concerns of North Slope producers BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil and of pipeline developer TransCanada, Alaska’s natural resources commissioner said Monday. “It could solve a lot of problems for us and the project sponsors,” the commissioner, Joe Balash, said in an interview. With an estimated cost of $45 billion-$65 billion, the project is a major recommendation of a Black & Veatch study of North Slope royalty issues released Monday. “Direct state equity participation in the [gas] project can provide key benefits to the state including alignment of interests [among the parties], transparency through the midstream portion of the supply chain, facilitation of third-party access to the midstream and potentially improved state cash flows along with improved producer economics,” the consultants said […]

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EU, Ukraine Close In on Natural-Gas Deal

The European Union is closing in on a deal that would allow Ukraine to get natural gas from sources to the West rather than from Russia, people familiar with the matter said. Such a move could ease the way for the former Soviet republic to pursue closer economic links with Europe, despite threats of retaliation from the Kremlin. The prospective natural gas deal comes 10 days before leaders of the 28-nation EU and its eastern neighbors meet in Vilnius, Lithuania. The centerpiece of the summit is intended to be a sweeping trade and political deal between Brussels and Kiev, but the signing has been in doubt because of a number of issues, including the fate of the jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Ukraine’s parliament meets again Tuesday to consider a solution to the EU’s demand that she be freed and allowed to go abroad for medical treatment. Meanwhile, […]

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Iraq’s Delays in Finishing Pipeline Defer Iran Gas Exports

Page added on November 17, 2013 While some Iranian energy officials had earlier said Iran’s natural gas exports to Iraq would begin by mid-March 2014, higher consumption in Iran during the cold season and Iraq’s delays in constructing its side of the pipeline will defer the project by a few months. Iran, which has the largest gas reserves in the world, seeks to enhance gas production by increasing foreign and domestic investments. But it is still a net importer of the energy source as the local demand has outstripped production increases. Iran is particularly dependent on imports during winter months, when residential heating demand peaks. Iran exports natural gas to Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, and receives pipeline imports from Turkmenistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Since 2000, Iran’s annual natural gas imports have exceeded its exports in all but two years (2010 and 2012). In 2011 and 2012, Iran […]

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