Natural Gas Daily: May 5th, 2020
Total Keeps Dividend Stable Despite Drop in Profits
France's Total has kept its dividend stable, it said, despite reporting a 35% decline in net adjusted profit to $1.78bn. At the same time it announced a plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
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The Big Picture:
- Fellow majors BP and ExxonMobil have also maintained their dividends in spite of the crisis, whereas Shell bucked the trend on April 30 by announcing a 66% cut to its payout.
- The French firm says it is pursuing the most ambitious plan for reducing carbon intensity out of any of the majors.
Shell Sheds US Shale Assets for $541mn
Shell has struck a deal to sell its Appalachia shale gas business in the US for $541mn to local energy firm National Fuel Gas Co (NFG), the Anglo-Dutch major reported on May 4.
The Big Picture:
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The divestment will bolster cash resources at Shell, which swung to a loss in the first quarter on the back of weaker oil and gas prices and lower sales.
Repsol Slips on Prices, Demand
Spanish energy firm Repsol reported an adjusted net income of €447mn on its Q1 trading, down 27.7% year on year. Net income, after including €790mn of impairments, was a negative €487mn, although each of its business units had traded profitably.
The Big Picture:
- "This volatility and decline in international commodities prices has reduced the valuation of the company’s inventories to an extraordinary degree," it said.
US Firm Gets Subsea Contract at Mozambique LNG
Houston-based engineering firm W-Industries has landed a "significant" subsea contract at the Total-led Mozambique LNG project, it reported on May 4.
The Big Picture:
- The $20bn project is due on steam by 2024, and will produce 13mn mt/yr of LNG at full capacity.
Wartsila Develops Hydrogen Engine
Finnish engineering firm Wartsila is developing the combustion process in its gas engines to enable them to burn 100% hydrogen fuel, it said.
The Big Picture:
- "The market for hydrogen-fuelled power plants will emerge along with regulations restricting the burning of fossil fuels,” said Wartsila Energy Business president Marco Wiren.
Canadian Pieridae, German Uniper Extend Deadlines
Canada’s Pieridae Energy, which is developing the 10mn mt/yr Goldboro LNG project in Nova Scotia, and German Uniper, which has agreed to take virtually the entire output of the facility’s first 5mn mt/yr train, have agreed to extensions of key deadlines in their 20-year agreement, Pieridae said May 5.
The Big Picture:
- Commercial deliveries are now expected to start between August 31, 2025 and February 28, 2026; the deadline to make a final investment decision (FID) on the project has been pushed back nine months, to June 30, 2021.
