IN BRI EF NEW S UK
A new online simulation has been launched by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that aims to give the public the chance to take big decisions about the nation’s energy future. Whether you want to build more nuclear power stations, move everyone to electric cars, or put solar panels on every roof, the choice is yours as long as you can hit the 2050 target to reduce carbon emissions by 80% while keeping the lights on. Unveiled in early March, ‘My2050’ is a user- friendly web application designed to help the public have a go at making the choices to be faced when it comes to moving to a secure, low carbon economy, and to let DECC know what they want 2050 to look like. In addi- tion to launching the My2050 simula- tion
atwww.decc.gov.uk/my2050 the government has also updated its more technical counterpart, the ‘2050 Calculator’, which gives a more detailed look at the UK’s energy and emissions system based on the phys- ical and technical limits of different technologies across the supply and demand side. The calculator can be found at
http://2050-calculator-
tool.decc.gov.uk
Centrica has entered into a three-year agreement with Qatargas covering the delivery of 2.4mn t/y of LNG to the UK Isle of Grain facility. The deal will pro- vide enough gas to meet approxi- mately 10% of UK annual residential gas demand, enough to meet the needs of around 2.5mn households. Qatar, which has the world’s third largest gas reserves, is set to become an increasingly important source of gas supply for the UK. In 2010 Qatar supplied the UK with 15% of its total gas demand. By 2025, LNG is expected to account for around 50% of UK total supply.
EUROPE
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has welcomed the expansion of Poland’s gas sector, writes Keith Nuthall. Assessing its energy sector, the IEA praised Poland for building an LNG terminal, expanding under- ground storage, extending gas trans- mission and distribution, increasing domestic gas production and exploring possible resources of unconventional gas. These ‘efforts should be continued and enhanced’, said the IEA.
PETROLEUMREVIEW APRIL 2011
impact energy sector Oil refining in Japan was hit hard by the 11 March earthquake and resulting tsunami, with a total of six refineries put out of action by thedisaster, cutting Japan’s output by morethan 33% to 2.7mn tonnes, down from 4mn tonnes, according to the Petroleum Association of Japan. Tokyo-based Cosmo Oil took 10 days to extinguish a fire at its Chiba refinery, reports Kelly Wetherille in Tokyo and Alan Osborn in London, and, as Petroleum Review went to press, the company remained unsure as to when theplant would beableto resume oper- ations. Cosmo Oil, JX Nippon Oil & Energy
Corporation and Idemitsu Kosan have all increased refining capacities at unaf- fected plants in western Japan in an effort to meet demand and compensate for those refineries that have been shut down. In addition, two of thesix closed refineries resumed operations within a week of the quake, with a third expected to follow suit by late March. The Petroleum Association forecast
that oil products output would reach 3.4mn b/d by theend of March. However, in the run-up to this, the Japanese government was urging refineries in the west of the country to ship their surpluses to the most affected areas in the north, where shortages were severely impeding relief efforts. The supply shortfall has been com- pounded by shipping difficulties due to theclosure of major roads and ports. Meanwhile, the Japanese Ministry of
Economy, Tradeand Industry said that it was making ‘utmost efforts to supply essential oil products necessary for people’s lives such as gasoline, light oil and kerosene in metropolitan areas as well as disaster areas, cooperating with oil companies and gas stations around the clock’. In a statement, it added: ‘On theother hand, oil products have not
industry Japanese earthquake and tsunami
actually reached disaster areas. Recovery of oil terminals and port facilities, as well as increasing the supply capacity of oil products themselves, is important.’ As of 21 March, theport of Chiba had resumed cargo vessel operations, although theCosmo Oil terminal remained closed. The large container and oil port of Kashima was also closed, but officials expected four out of the 11 berths to resume operations within weeks, according to Japanese news- paper reports. An International Energy Agency (IEA)
spokesperson in Paris said that questions about theroleof nuclear power going forwards were ‘understandable’ in the wake of thecrisis in Japan. Thesituation was ‘still evolving’, said the IEA, but it was ‘clear that there will be lessons to be learned’. On oil, the agency confirmed that six refineries representing 30% of Japan’s total refining capacity were ini- tially closed and the government had ordered a reduction of three days in stockholding obligations. However, this should beset against thefact that Japan held some 170 days of stocks in terms of net imports, which was well above the IEA requirement of 90 days. IEA officials declined to speculate
publicly about theimpact of the crisis on gas prices, but Geoff Winckles, Director of theinternational gas consultancy Global Energy Associates, said that ‘obviously this will affect the LNG market and thepricemust go up’. Japan will have to buy to meet its energy requirements; effectively, the only way to get gas quickly was to import it, noted Winckles, which meant imports of LNG by boat. The impact of higher prices would befelt more by thebig regular users of LNG such as Spain, than in the UK and other countries, where LNG was essentially a back-up source of energy, Winckler said.
Japan signs first CBM-based LNG import deal
Tokyo Gas has signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with BG Group to import 1.2mn t/y of LNG from the Queensland Curtis LNG project near Gladstone in eastern Australia from 2015. It is reportedly the first coal bed methane (CBM) based LNG import deal by any Japanese company. Under the agreement, Tokyo Gas has also acquired a 1.25% stake in some of BG’s assets in the Surat basin in Queensland. It is also to take a 2.5% interest in the second of QCLNG’s two lique- faction trains that, between them, will produce 8.5mn t/y of LNG. The project is scheduled to load its first LNG shipment in 2014. QCLNG is underpinned by BG Group global LNG sales agreements for almost
10mn t/y, comprising the agreement with Tokyo Gas detailed above; a 20-year, 3.6mn t/y agreement with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC); a 21- year, 1.7mn t/y agreement to GNL Chile; and a 20-year agreement to supply up to 3mn t/y to customers in Singapore.
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