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LNG trader Vitol has signed a long-term deal to buy natural gas from US oil and gas producer EOG.

Under the sales and purchase deal, EOG will supply 180,000 MMBtu/d of natural gas, or about 1.25 million tonnes of LNG per year, to Vitol for a period of 10 years staring in 2027.

Geneva-based Vitol said EOG will supply 140,000 MMBtu/d at a purchase price indexed to Brent Crude Oil and the remaining volumes indexed to Brent or a US Gulf Coast gas index.

“Vitol has a long history of serving LNG customers world-wide and this transaction underscores Vitol’s ability to provide innovative gas and LNG solutions to North American gas producers looking to access global markets,” Ben Marshall, head of Vitol Americas, said.

He said that Vitol continues to strengthen its position in the LNG industry as global LNG demand is experiencing “significant growth”.

Prior to this deal, US shale gas producer Chesapeake Energy has signed a heads of agreement with Vitol to supply the latter with LNG from a liquefaction plant in the US.

Under the 15-year deal, Chesapeake Energy Marketing will supply up to 1 mtpa of LNG to Vitol with the purchase price indexed to Japan Korea Marker (JKM).

Vitol has a global LNG portfolio with long-term LNG supply from North America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia, and charters a fleet of LNG carriers.

In 2022, Vitol physically delivered about 14 mtpa of LNG.

The firm recently signed a deal with India’s GAIL to deliver 1 mtpa of LNG to the latter for a period of about 10 years starting in 2026.

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US liquefaction plants shipped 26 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes in the week ending February 21, while natural gas deliveries to these terminals decreased compared to the week before.

The US EIA said in its weekly natural gas report that 26 LNG carriers departed the US plants between February 15 and February 21, the same as in the week before.

Citing shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, the agency said the total capacity of these LNG vessels is 97 Bcf.

Average natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals decreased by 1.9 percent (0.3 Bcf/d) week over week, averaging 13.6 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana decreased by 4.5 percent (0.4 Bcf/d), to 8.7 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas increased by 4.6 percent (0.2 Bcf/d) to average 3.5 Bcf/d.

The agency said that natural gas deliveries to terminals outside of the U.S. Gulf Coast were essentially unchanged week over week at 1.2 Bcf/d.

Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped nine cargoes and the company’s Corpus Christi facility sent four shipments during the week under review.

Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal shipped four cargoes while Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal and the Freeport LNG terminal each shipped three cargoes during the period.

Also, the Elba Island terminal sent two LNG cargoes and the Cove Point LNG terminal shipped one cargo, the agency said.

This report week, the Henry Hub spot price rose 9 cents from $1.51 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $1.60/MMBtu this Wednesday.

The price of the March 2024 NYMEX contract increased 16.4 cents, from $1.609/MMBtu last Wednesday to $1.773/MMBtu this Wednesday.

According to the agency, the price of the 12-month strip averaging March 2024 through February 2025 futures contracts climbed 19.1 cents to $2.608/MMBtu.

The agency said that international natural gas futures decreased this report week.

Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia fell 77 cents to a weekly average of $8.65/MMBtu.

Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF fell 51 cents to a weekly average of $7.75/MMBtu.

In the same week last year (week ending February 22, 2023), the prices were $15.34/MMBtu in East Asia and $15.64/MMBtu at TTF, the agency said.

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Atlantic spot LNG freight rates dropped below $50,000 per day this week, while European and Asian prices also decreased compared to the week before.

Last week, charter rates were almost flat after they rose in the week before for the first time since mid-November 2023.

“The Spark30S Atlantic spot 174,000 cbm 2 Stroke LNG freight rate fell to the lowest level in 8 months, falling $4,750 this week to close at $49,750 per day as the spot fixing window moves into the seasonally softer Q2 period,” Henry Bennett, Spark’s COO, told LNG Prime on Friday.

He said the Spark25S Pacific spot rate was almost unchanged on the week at $58,250 per day.

Image: Spark

LNG carriers are still avoiding the Suez Canal due to the situation in the Red Sea.

Since January, LNG carriers, including Qatari vessels delivering LNG shipments to Europe, are favoring the Cape of Good Hope for safer passage.

Kpler said previously that the Suez Canal has witnessed no LNG transits since January 17.

On the other hand, due to a drought situation impacting the Panama Canal, LNG transits through the waterway keep declining.

Official data shows that LNG transits dropped to 326 in fiscal 2023 from 374 in 2022 and 537 in 2021.

In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month dropped compared to the last week.

The NWE DES LNG for March delivery was assessed last week at $7.339/MMBtu and at a $0.535/MMBtu discount to the TTF.

“The SparkNWE DES LNG price is hovering just above the low from June 2023 and is sitting at $6.858/MMBtu, down $0.481 week on week,” Bennet said.

Image: Spark

Levels of gas in storages in Europe remain high for this time of the year due to mild weather.

Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that gas storages in the EU were 64.69 percent full on February 22. Gas storages were 65.94 percent full on February 14.

This week, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia, dropped when compared to the last week, according to Platts data.

JKM for April settled at $8.155/MMBtu on Thursday.

State-run Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said in a report earlier this week that the JKM decreased due to sufficient supply and high inventory.

METI previously said that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation as of February 18 stood at 2.13 million tonnes, up from 2.05 million tonnes in the previous week.

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US LNG exporting giant Cheniere is going “full steam ahead” with plans to expand its Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG terminals despite a recent move by the Biden administration to pause pending decisions for LNG export terminals, according to Cheniere’s CEO, Jack Fusco.

The Biden administration and the Department of Energy (DOE) announced last month, that the DOE will temporarily pause review and approval of all new and pending applications for export authorization to non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries while DOE updates its assessment process.

“While this decision does not currently impact our expansion projects or our FERC processes at Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi, it does introduce regulatory and permitting uncertainty into the US LNG industry as a whole,” Fusco said on Thursday during Cheniere’s 2023 results call.

“I firmly believe that a fair and transparent regulatory framework is essential for the future development of natural gas infrastructure in the United States, particularly liquefaction capacity, given the scale of investment, commercial support, and time required to bring these projects online,” he said.

Fusco said the company believes it would secure all necessary regulatory approvals for Corpus Christi mid-scale trains 8 and 9, and the SPL expansion project within its expected timelines, as “we have for more than a decade under multiple administrations.”

“To be clear, the DOE action has not slowed down our expansion projects at either site. We are full steam ahead on Corpus Christi trains 8 and 9 and the SPL expansion project development. We expect to file the FERC application for SPL very soon, and Corpus Christi trains 8 and 9 are in advanced stages in the FERC approval process,” he said.

Fusco said the environmental assessment for trains 8 and 9 is scheduled for receipt by the end of March, and the company just received a letter of determination from PHMSA, a key agency in the FERC process last week.

“We remain confident that our previous timelines won’t be materially impacted and we will maximize the efficiency with having Bechtel on site already through Stage 3,” he said.

Cheniere is the largest LNG exporter in the US.

The company’s Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana currently has a capacity of about 30 mtpa following the launch of the sixth train in February 2022, while Cheniere’s three-train Corpus Christi plant in Texas can produce about 15 mtpa of LNG and is undergoing expansion to add more than 10 mtpa of capacity.

Cheniere’s unit Corpus Christi Liquefaction said in the December construction report filed with the US FERC that overall project completion for the Stage 3 project is 51.4 percent.

The company expects to achieve first LNG production from the first train at the end of 2024.

Besides this expansion, Cheniere plans to build two more liquefaction trains as part of the third expansion phase at the Corpus Christi plant.

The firm’s results show that it aims to take a final investment decision on CCL midscale trains 8 and 9 in 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.

In addition, Cheniere also aims to build two new liquefaction trains as part of the Sabine Pass Stage 5 expansion project to add up to 20 mtpa of capacity to the giant facility.

Cheniere plans to take FID on this project in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

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China’s Zijin Mining Group announced on Friday that is going ahead with the second phase of a major expansion at its Julong copper project in Tibet, as it has received government approval.

The permit will allow Zijin to increase the mine’s capacity to 350,000 tonnes per day by 2025. One Julong expansion is completed the asset will become China’s largest single copper operation, with ore mining and processing volumes of more than 100 million tonnes a year.

Total investment required for the project has been pegged at about 17.5 billion yuan ($2.43 billion), Zijin said. It added it’s already planning to further increase production and capacity at the Tibet mine.

If the third phase of expansion is approved by local authorities, Julong could raise annual output to about 200 million tons, making it the largest single copper mine in the world, Zijin said.

The company, China’s largest gold miner and one of the country’s top copper producers, took control of the Julong project in 2020 and had it up and running only 18 months later.

Zijin has several assets in Tiber, including the Zhunuo copper mine in Tibet, which it acquired in August last year. It also has a controlling interest in lithium producer Lakkor Resources, and is the second-largest shareholder of Tibet-based companies such as Yulong Copper and Tianyuan Mining.

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ENB Pub Note:  The sad part about this story from Fox News is that the Biden Administration has allowed the United States to be defenseless to these cyber and physical attacks. Between the open border and the grid components I have been talking about for two years from China, and just recently, the Bide Adminstration’s allowing China access to the national internet has set up for remote shutdown by our enemies for easily over 30% of the national grid system. Here is just one of the stories:

Could China Hack Our Electric Grid? – in 4 words – Yes and How Soon? The Real Question – Is Mayorkas in on it?

GOP Sen. Marco Rubio warned on social media that the AT&T outage affecting tens of thousands of Americans pales in comparison to what a potential China cyberattack would look like.

“I don’t know the cause of the AT&T outage,” the Florida Republican posted on X on Thursday. “But I do know it will be 100 times worse when #China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of a #Taiwan invasion.

“And it won’t be just cell service they hit, it will be your power, your water and your bank.”

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

Rubio’s warning came as tens of thousands of AT&T customers reported outages on Thursday morning for their home phone, internet and mobile phone services, according to Downdetector.

CHINESE HACKERS HAD ACCESS TO US INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ‘AT LEAST 5 YEARS’ BEFORE DISCOVERY

The outages started popping up just before 3:30 a.m. ET, according to a graph shown on the website that tracks outages.

Most users, 54%, say they are having issues with mobile phone service. More than a third of customers reporting being affected say they have no signal at all, and 8% of users say their mobile internet is down.

“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning,” AT&T told FOX Business in a statement. “We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.”

More than 74,000 AT&T users reported outages to Downdetector as of 9:30 a.m. ET.

Earlier this month, FBI director Christopher Wray warned that China’s cyberattacks against the U.S. and its allies are reaching a “fever pitch.”

“You might find your companies harassed and hacked, targeted by a web of corporate CCP proxies,” Wray told the leaders gathered in Germany. “You might also find PRC [People’s Republic of China] hackers lurking in your power stations, your phone companies and other infrastructure, poised to take them down when they decide you stepped too far out of line, and that hurting your civilian population suits the CCP.”

“China-sponsored hackers pre-positioned for potential cyberattacks against U.S. oil and natural gas companies way back in 2011, but these days, it’s reached something closer to a fever pitch,” he continued. “What we’re seeing now is China’s increasing build-out of offensive weapons within our critical infrastructure, poised to attack whenever Beijing decides the time is right.”

Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

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