Angola LNG is to start regular exports of liquefied natural gas in late June after shipping tests next month and will target non-US buyers in Europe and Asia where prices are higher, oil minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos said on Tuesday.
The 5.2 million tonnes per annum Angola LNG project is led by Angola's state-owned oil company, Sonangol, which has a 22.8 percent stake and Chevron, which holds 36.4 percent. Eni , Total and BP each hold a stake of 13.6 percent.
“The project is practically in its final phase and we now see the forecast date (for regular shipments) in the third quarter, towards the end of June,” De Botelho told reporters in parliament.
The company had initially said exports would start in the first quarter and then moved the date to May, but De Botelho said a shipping test would be conducted next month and the plant officially inaugurated in June.
Angola LNG's plans to turn its focus away from US buyers occurs in the wake of a rapid increase in US shale gas production brought about by new drilling and extraction technologies, De Botelho said.
He said while the price of LNG in the US market is at $2 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), in Europe it is at between $6 and $8 and at around $13 in Asia.
Trading sources told Reuters last week that Asian LNG spot prices for May and June delivery exceeded $17 per mmBtu, supported by record demand from Japan, as the world's top buyer increases in gas-fired power generation after last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster.
De Botelho also said that plans by French oil major Total to reduce output at its Girassol platform in June for planned works do not threaten the government's target to produce an average of 1.8 million barrels of crude per day this year. - Reuters