Natural Gas Daily: November 16th, 2020

TAP SEES COMMERCIAL LAUNCH: UPDATE 2

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has launched commercial operations, its operator announced on November 15, meaning it is now ready to flow gas from Azerbaijan to southern Europe.

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• TAP's shareholders are BP, Azerbaijan's state-owned Socar and Italy's Snam, each with 20%, Belgium's Fluxys with 19%, Spain's Enagas with 16% and Switzerland's Axpo with 5%.  

• The group is looking to double the pipeline's capacity to 20bn m3/yr eventually, but have had difficulty attracting interest from the market.

2020: A GOOD NINE MONTHS FOR UPSTREAM

Exploration activity has been resilient this year, with over 8bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) found in the first nine months. Norwegian consultancy Rystad expects the total for the year to reach "around 10bn boe," it said.

• Russia leads in terms of discovery volume, with 1.51bn boe, while Suriname comes second with 1.39bn boe and the UAE follows third with 1.1bn boe.

ARAMCO ANNOUNCES MULTI-TRANCHE BOND ISSUE

Saudi Aramco plans a multi-tranche issue of senior, US dollar-denominated bonds, it said in a filing on the Saudi stock exchange, without disclosing the size of the offering.

• The company has seen earnings tumble this year as a result of low oil prices and Opec+ cuts, but has promised to pay some $37.5bn in dividends for the second half of the year to replenish the Saudi budget.

• It has also committed to paying $69.1bn for a 70% stake in Saudi petrochemicals group Sabic in instalments until 2028. That deal was closed in June.

EQUINOR OVERHAULS CORPORATE STRUCTURE

Norway's Equinor announced significant changes to its corporate structure, two weeks after Anders Opedal took over as the state producer's CEO following the resignation of Eldar Saetre.

• Other oil and gas producers, including the European majors BP and Shell, have also announced restructuring plans including job cuts as a way of adapting to the low oil price, net zero carbon goals or the pandemic.

CANADA’S HAISLA FINDS PARTNERS FOR CEDAR LNG

Canada’s Haisla Nation says it has approved partnership agreements with Pacific Traverse Energy (PTE) and Delfin Midstream to pursue its 3mn-4mn mt/yr Cedar LNG project on its traditional territory in Kitimat, on BC’s northern coast.

• Cedar LNG will be a floating natural gas liquefaction facility and is aiming to be the first majority indigenous-owned LNG export facility in Canada, with its majority stake owned by the Haisla Nation.

   

SINOPEC ADDS RESERVES AT SICHUAN FIELD

Chinese state-run explorer Sinopec has added 83bn m3 of new gas reserves at its Chuanxi gas field in the Sichuan basin, it said on November 13. The reserves have been certified by the Chinese ministry of natural resources.

• The company also announced it will ramp up gas supplies during the winter season spanning from November 15 to March 15.

• It increased its estimate for proven reserves at the Fuling shale gas field by almost 192bn m3 last month.