Outrage as EU countries back watered-down methane regulation: EU energy ministers have agreed to a version of the proposed legislation put forward by the European Commission last year to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector but, as had been feared, opted to relax the key proposals on leak detection and repair across Europe’s oil and gas infrastructure. The European parliament will vote on the proposed legislation in February, to then be followed by negotiations with the member states to decide the final text. The EU’s energy commissioner Kadri Simon called on the countries to show flexibility in the negotiations with the parliament, while Luxembourg’s energy minister Claude Turmes told the meeting he was “stunned” by the outcome. “Nobody understands how Europe, who is so committed to [tackling] climate change, can come up with such a weak governmental position on methane.” (Reuters, Euractiv)

First of Germany’s panic terminals officially opened: Uniper’s 5 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) floating terminal at Wilhelmshaven is up and running with LNG expected to be regasified and injected into Germany’s gas grid before Christmas. This follows the official opening of the facility at the northern port by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior ministers on December 17. The celebratory mood was offset, however, by admissions from the Ministry of Economic Affairs – revealed two days before in leaked official documents – that Germany’s lengthy list of proposed LNG terminals will lead to significant overcapacity if implemented. Taken together, the plans, which campaigners have long characterized as excessive panic measures, are also out of step with the ministry’s assumptions on the demand reduction required to meet national climate targets. Official flagging of the potential overcapacity suggests that some of the plans may be in line for scaling down. (Deutsche Welle, Table Media [German], Malte Kreutzfeldt Twitter thread [German])

International Gas Union’s climate lobbying playbook exposed: Documents unearthed by the think tank InfluenceMap reveal the strategies that the IGU has embarked on in recent years to deal with the fact that, as the global industry body itself admits, “the golden age of natural gas has been replaced with a more delicate view of the role of natural gas in the future energy mix.” The promotion of gas as “green” and an emphasis on energy security are at the heart of the IGU’s communication strategies, which have been regionally tailored to different markets including Europe, North America, and developing countries. The penetration of these narratives has been successful or partially successful, InfluenceMap’s tracking shows, in influencing policy outcomes in several regions, including Australia, Korea, the EU, the U.S., and Vietnam. (InfluenceMap)

Two delayed African export projects thought likely to advance in 2023: Despite much fanfare from the Government of Tanzania last month at the COP27 climate summit that key accords, including a Host Government Agreement, would be signed in December with Equinor, Shell, and ExxonMobil to pave the way for a new US$40 billion export terminal, negotiations between the parties have yet to come to fruition. Local media reported on a visit earlier this month to Dar es Salaam by a senior Equinor official, with the drafting of a final agreement said to be continuing between teams of negotiation experts from the government and the energy companies. Grey Dynamics has produced an assessment of the security situation in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province where an insurgency compelled TotalEnergies to declare force majeure on its major LNG project in April 2021. The London-based private intelligence firm projects that although terror attacks in the region are likely to continue over the next 12 months, a construction restart on the US$20 billion export terminal is likely in the first half of next year. (The Citizen, Grey Dynamics) 

Qatar issues gas threat to EU over corruption allegations: Following the eruption of cash-for-influence allegations that has seen the European parliament suspend all Qatar-related legislative work and bar Qatari representatives from visiting the institution, the Gulf state has hit back and rejected the corruption investigation being carried out by Belgian authorities. A statement issued by a Qatari diplomat also warned that the situation could “negatively affect regional and global security cooperation, as well as ongoing discussions around global energy poverty and security.” While the Belgian authorities have so far not formally implicated Qatar in the investigation, should this happen, the German government, fresh from agreeing LNG supply contracts with Doha, appears ready not to allow bribery offenses to override its own energy security priorities. (Euractiv, Politico) 

Blow for Canadian LNG industry group as leader resigns: Bryan Cox has left his position after serving four years as president and CEO of the Canadian LNG Alliance, an industry group set up in 2014 when hopes were high for developing more than 20 LNG proposals in British Columbia. Other than the Shell-led LNG Canada export terminal, scheduled to be operational in 2025, only five proposals for export projects remain alive in B.C. on Canada’s west coast: Cedar LNG, Ksi Lisims LNG, Woodfibre LNG, and potential expansions at the already operating Tilbury Island terminal as well as at LNG Canada. The decline of the Canadian LNG Alliance is seeing the baton for promoting B.C.’s LNG industry being passed to the First Nations LNG Alliance, an Indigenous group that formed in 2015. (The Globe and Mail)

Canada: The floating Ksi Lisims LNG terminal in British Columbia, proposed to be operating by 2028, has been granted a 40-year export license – to start on the day of the first export – by Canada Energy Regulator.

Egypt: The government has announced the discovery of a large gas field containing an estimated 3.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in the eastern Mediterranean; by comparison, the giant Zohr field discovered in 2015 contains 30 tcf. 

Germany: Under a plan called “Flow – making hydrogen happen,” pipeline firms Gascade, Ontras, and terranets have agreed to convert high-pressure gas pipelines by 2025 to transport low-carbon hydrogen along a 1,100-km north-south hydrogen corridor.

India: Petronet LNG has announced it is proceeding with the development of a 4 million tonnes per annum floating LNG import terminal, which it plans to have ready at Gopalpur port in Odisha before the end of 2025.  

Iran: A potential gas swap deal with Russia could earn Iran at least US$6 billion a year, according to figures from Iran Energy Exchange, following indications that officials from the two countries have been discussing a swap mechanism in recent months. 

Namibia: Norwegian company BW Energy will conduct seismic surveying with a view to expanding the offshore Kudu field and attracting a new investment partner. 

Norway: Oslo-based Hoegh LNG has said it is in talks to supply more of its regasification vessels to several European countries for “both government-sponsored and commercial projects.”

Russia: According to a report from Russia’s central bank, gas-based chemical projects, including the US$11 billion Amur Gas Chemical Complex, are facing delays due to the exit of European contractors.  

Russia: Production has started at the 1.8 trillion cubic meters Kovykta gas field in Siberia that will increase exports to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline. 

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies have announced a US$11 billion FID on the Amiral petrochemical facility in Jubail, with operations scheduled to start in 2027.

UK: Recording increased profits for its UK North Sea drilling activities in 2021, Gazprom International UK has stated that it expects to “continue with exploration opportunities in the North Sea.” 

U.S.: The largest utility in the state of Kentucky is attracting criticism from renewable energy advocates over its plans to replace two coal plants by 2028 with two 621 megawatt gas plants and new solar installations.

The Gas Graph


(Via ICIS – Russian LNG to Europe mainly goes to France and Spain where companies hold long-term contracts with Novatek. Import volumes from Russia to France and to Belgium’s single import terminal at Zeebrugge have jumped notably at the end of the year.)

Private equity player’s massive carbon footprint under the spotlight: A new report has revealed that The Carlyle Group – one of the world's largest private equity firms with US$369 billion in assets under management – is invested in upstream energy companies unlikely to be economically viable in a low-carbon economy, exposing investors to significant climate and financial risk. The analysis, led by Carbon Tracker, found that Carlyle’s portfolio brings with it more exposure to transition risk than almost all of the oil and gas majors. “By funding oil and gas companies whose businesses may only be viable in a high fossil fuel-demand world, Carlyle and their investors appear to be banking on climate failure,” said Maeve O’Connor, Associate Analyst at Carbon Tracker and primary author of the report. The report also found that the private equity-backed upstream companies’ capital expenditure allocation is overwhelmingly tilted towards new projects, despite the International Energy Agency’s announcement that no new extraction projects are compatible with a 1.5°C warming scenario. (Private Equity Climate Risks)

Marginal supply boost to Europe from Azerbaijan next year: The Caspian state’s hardline president Ilham Aliyev is predicting an increase of “at least” 0.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) in gas export flows to Europe in 2023 over this year’s target of 11.5 bcm. This volume target shrunk in September from the 12 bcm Baku agreed to export under a new memorandum of understanding signed with the EU in July. Despite widely-held skepticism from industry analysts over Azerbaijan’s ability to boost gas Caspian production, Aliyev added that total gas exports will rise to about 24 bcm next year, higher than the 19 bcm exported in 2021. (Argus Media)

Hydrogen for heating – industry meddling under investigation in U.S., UK parliamentarians “unconvinced”: Following reporting from The Boston Globe last month, which revealed that gas interests funded and made changes to an “independent,” peer-reviewed University of Massachusetts study that recommended hydrogen for heating to state policymakers, an internal investigation is now underway from the journal that published it. The media outlet exposed that most of the funding for the paper, which appeared in the Frontiers in Energy Research journal in September, came indirectly from companies in the gas and pipeline industry, including National Grid, Eversource, and Enbridge. A new report from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, an influential committee of UK lawmakers, is “unconvinced” that hydrogen will be able to play a major role in heating homes by 2026, despite UK government proposals to roll out hydrogen-ready boilers in domestic homes. More broadly, the report’s findings played down hydrogen’s potential role in UK decarbonisation efforts, describing it as “not a panacea” with the committee calling for clear technical and economic justifications to accompany future decision-making. (Hydrogen Insight, UK Parliament)

CCS component adds to non-viability of Santos’ Barossa project – analysis: Hot on the heels of the confirmation from the Full Federal Court of Australia earlier this month that Santos failed to adequately consult with traditional owners in establishing the Barossa gas project off the Tiwi Islands, new analysis has further questioned the viability of the A$4.7 billion (US$3.2 billion) gas project and its reliance on unproven – and as yet unapproved – carbon capture and storage technology. A briefing from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis shows that the Bayu-Undan CCS project, which the gas giant announced only in August this year as a way of sequestering a portion of the emissions coming from Barossa gas, is not likely to reduce emissions. Swiss bank Credit Suisse also reacted to the December 2 court verdict, warning of a five to eighteen month material delay to the project as a revised environmental plan is put together under heightened regulatory scrutiny. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis [Pdf], Energy Voice) 

Arctic LNG 2 facing serious delivery delays for specialized tankers: International sanctions are seriously hampering the development of an ice-class fleet of LNG carriers to be used at Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 terminal and are likely to compromise the company’s plans to have the vast facility partly operational and exporting to Asian markets by the end of 2023. The Russian business daily Kommersant has reported expected delays of almost a year affecting the building of five of the specialized ice breaking vessels at the Zvezda shipyard in Vladivostok. South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has pulled out of shipbuilding orders vital to the project throughout this year, and it is thought that reduced South Korean expertise-sharing has also impacted progress at the Zvezda yard. (The Barents Observer)

Groups demand a new start for Uniper as shareholders back nationalization: An extraordinary general meeting of the German gas giant has approved “by a large majority” its long-mooted takeover by the federal government, with Berlin agreeing to inject €33 billion (US$35 billion) into the troubled company. The state’s exposure now to Uniper’s derivatives positions of €216 billion has raised eyebrows amongst analysts. Following the shareholder vote, the European Commission swiftly announced conditional approval of the nationalization deal under EU state aid rules. German environment groups marked the occasion of the biggest corporate bailout in the country’s history by calling for the government to intervene and forge a realignment of Uniper towards renewable energy and away from its failed fossil fuel business model. (Euractiv, Reuters, Reuters, urgewald [German])

“Whenever they say the infrastructure is hydrogen-ready, this is the way of comforting the public … The story line that policymakers are selling is that: ‘We invest in LNG. We are aware that it’s fossil fuels. But don’t you worry ... it will become greener, because we will have improvement in hydrogen technology and then we will just receive hydrogen through it,’” 

said Ganna Gladkykh, Clean Energy Transition Expert at the European Energy Research Alliance, of the claims now accompanying the EU’s pumping of billions of euros into new gas infrastructure.

Private Equity Fuels LNG at the Expense of Communities and the Climate, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, November 22, 2022.

This first installment of a new series investigating the role of private equity in the LNG industry provides data on the finance sector’s support that has enabled the U.S. to become the world’s largest LNG exporter, and discusses some of the negative impacts that have resulted already. 

When is enough, enough? The state of play with Europe's new LNG terminal projects in response to the energy crisis, Global Energy Monitor, December 16, 2022.

This 7-page briefing warns that the new LNG import capacity plans – an additional 195 bcm per year by 2026 – that European countries have announced since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine are hugely excessive and threaten to derail the EU's climate goals.