Two natural gas pipelines connecting offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico production platforms operated by Enbridge Inc have resumed operations, following hurricane-related shutdowns a week ago.
After the disaster several energy companies have continued to resume offshore operations after completing damage assessments following Hurricane Laura. The hurricane tore through the Gulf of Mexico with wind power of up to 150 mile per hour (240 kmh) winds. Days after, oil and gas producers have put back crews to up to 228 of 310 evacuated offshore facilities, according to a report from the U.S. Interior Department.
The Garden Banks pipeline, a 1 billion cubic feet per day natural gas line that connects to the Auger, Baldpate, Enchilada, and Magnolia offshore production platforms, was halted as a precaution last week.
San Mateo Midstream has announced that there have been progress on several of its pipeline construction projects as well as the Black River LNG plant in Eddy County, New Mexico which has been completed, P&GJ reports.
At the moment, San Mateo Midstream is close to completing the “construction of approximately 24 miles of large diameter natural gas gathering pipelines between the Black River Processing Plant and the New Mexico and Texas state line in southeastern Eddy County, P&GJ reports”.
The Black River LNG expansion is said to have the capacity to move an additional 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to the current inlet capacity of 260 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The expanded Black River Processing Plant will provide leverage for San Mateo’s key customer, Matador Resources Company, and also offer processing opportunities for other producer in the Delaware Basin.
Brazil's lower legislative house plans to vote in the coming week for a law that will further liberalize the natural gas market, to encourage pipelines and private investment by putting an end to the monopoly held by state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), Reuters report.
According to the presenter of the Bill to the House, Congressman Laercio Oliveira, when in operation, prices of natural gas in Brazil could drop. Supporters and promoters of the bill estimate that the initiative could attract 60 billion reais ($11 billion) in private investments and generate 4 million jobs.
Recall that Petrobras had lost the monopoly in the oil and gas sector by law twenty years ago, but in practice maintained its monopoly in the virtual natural gas industry.
Specifically, the law will reduce delays in getting licencing for handling concessions and building pipelines allowing the acquisition of such license to require only one authorization.
The new law will strengthen competition in the industry and change the structure of the gas sector.
A new deal between Shell and Hungary will enable Hungary buy 250 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas for a six-year period from Royal Dutch Shell Plc. through Croatia’s LNG port in Krk, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Until the new deal, Hungary had always relied mostly on Russian for gas suppliers. The current deal will slightly halt the growing footprint of Russia’s Gazprom within the region.
Hungary has been open to receiving gas suppliers from any source for years. These sources include even Western ones, as long there are open routes, insisting that that neighboring countries have not been very eager to develop the needed infrastructure.
(Marine & Petroleum) The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is providing a prepayment funding support of about $1billion to the upstream operations of its subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The NNPC reports that the crude oil prepayment has made it possible for NNPC to pay NPDC’s Tax obligations of about US$700million to the Federal Government of Nigeria. The balance of the funds is slated to go to for the funding of NPDC’s capital and operating expenditures.
The said repayment financing is is backed by future oil production of NPDC.
The payments has been slated for two tranches of disbursement: a 5 year dollar amortizing tranche (“Tranche 1”) and a 7 year naira amortizing tranche (“Tranche 2”). According to the company, both tranches benefit from a cash sweep with the 7-year tranche having a 1-year non-call period, according to NNPC.
(Marine & Petroleum) Nigeria’s federal Government says the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) will be merged as part of the envisaged reforms contained in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, says in a deregulated petroleum regime, market forces will henceforth determine the prices at the pump, while the government would shift its focus to regulation of the industry.
The recent announcement had brought some clarifications to the lingering questions about the fate of the two agencies in the event that the new pricing mechanism that eliminates subsidies and allows prices to be driven by the market.
Stakeholders in the market have suggested that total deregulation with an appropriate framework and standard consumer protection is the way to go to ensure fair practices. The emphasized the importance of ensuring that key legislations such as the Petroleum Equalization Fund Act, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) Act and Price Control Act are all reviewed in line with the new regime.
