By Tim Daiss – Feb 25, 2019, 3:00 PM CST

More developments are underway that show just how far global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets have progressed in the last five years. Until recently, the super-cooled fuel was mostly bought and sold via restrictive long-term off-take agreements where the buyer usually signed up for 15 or 20-year deals that helped producers finance massive capex projects.

However, in the last few years, as more supply hit the market, a long-term supply overhang developed that not only put downward pressure on prices but gave buyers more options as well as more leverage in contract negotiations. In addition to more supply flooding the market, a robust spot market for LNG in Asia has been developing which has seen buyers, for example, Tokyo Gas and several others, also become traders. read more

Doha:  Shell Qatar Chairman and Managing Director Andrew Faulkner (pictured) said the Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) project is operating efficiently and achieving the business objectives for which it was founded.

Speaking to Qatar News Agency, Faulkner said Pearl GTL, which is the largest of its type and managed by Shell Qatar is benefiting the economic performance in the State of Qatar and is achieving strong financial returns that contribute to the sustainable development it seeks, and represents a serious opportunity for professional development as there are more than 300 Qataris occupying different positions. He added that the project also represents investment opportunities for many local companies through its operational and supply opportunities. read more

David Pilling, Africa Editor, in Maputo: 13 November 2018

Royal Dutch Shell has accused Anadarko Petroleum of holding it and the Mozambican government to hostage by refusing to supply enough domestic gas in the first phase of a giant liquefied natural gas project. 

As part of efforts to develop the local economy, Shell plans to build a 38,000-barrel-a-day gas-to-liquid plant that will produce kerosene, diesel and naphtha. But Moon Hussain, director of the project, said Anadarko was obstructing its plans by refusing to supply gas until the second phase of the LNG project, which is not expected to start until 2031.  read more

By Ben van Beurden: 6 Dec 2015

One of today’s biggest challenges is to boost economic development, while protecting the environment at the same time. Energy is right at the heart of both matters. The world needs more energy, cleaner energy and affordable energy. The Middle East is no exception to this reality.

Today, as I attend the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Qatar, it is ever clearer to me that technology is pivotal to a sustainable energy future. This future cannot be created by single governments or stand-alone energy companies. Partnerships are needed to make it happen. read more

Matt Chambers: Resources Reporter: Melbourne: 31 July 2015

Oil major Shell has laid down tougher hurdles for its Australian projects including Browse LNG off Western Australia and Arrow coal-seam gas in Queensland.

It has cut the oil price at which new projects need to go ahead and flagged a major LNG project ­pipeline overhaul if its planned $91 billion takeover of BG Group is successful.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company would require projects to be profitable near $US50 a barrel of oil, down from previous indications of ­between $US70 and $US90. read more

By a Regular Contributor

Hopefully, Shell will soon accept that in the US Arctic their position is now untenable…

If RDS wants to cut capex (and exposure), FLNG is a good place to start, as Simon Henry suggested yesterday. The Arctic should be next. 

The Arctic is rapidly acquiring a similar profile to the Brent Spar fiasco. The issue is not whether Greenpeace is right or wrong, it is whether Shell can win the hearts and minds of the public to support their efforts. So far, Shell’s own incompetence has been the most significant issue in eliminating any public support they once enjoyed. 

The destruction of drilling vessels and criminal convictions for polluting the environment and failing to keep the required records support the view that Shell do not know what they are doing. Neither Shell’s army of lawyers nor the judges on whom they rely have ever worked offshore and have no idea of what it entails. However, the first time that there is any illegal discharge into the sea or the air (and it will happen), or a fatality, injury or  well control incident, the lawyers who are supporting Shell’s current efforts will have nothing constructive to say.  read more

Shell cuts 2015 capex, sees downstream downturn

London (Platts)–30 Apr 2015

* Capex reduced by more than $2 billion
* Decision on Majnoon development pushed back to 2017
* CFO says refining margins already worsening

Shell said Thursday it had reduced its expected 2015 capital expenditure to $33 billion from previous guidance of a little more than $35 billion as the company continues to adjust its business to the lower oil-price environment.

Shell, releasing its first-quarter results, also said it continued to reduce its operating costs and capital spending, with Q1 operating expenditure down by $1.1 billion year on year. read more

Extract from a Rigzone article published Wednesday 30 July 2014

In 2008, Shell announced it would partner with Qatar Petroleum and build Pearl GTL in order to produce cleaner-burning diesel and kerosene, base oils for top-tier lubricants, a chemical feedstock called naphtha (used to make plastics) and normal paraffin, which is used to produce detergents. Today, the plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, 80km north of Doha, Qatar, is the largest gas-to-liquids plant in the world. 

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