RSS Feed
September 28th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Italian ENI plans to expand its Singapore trading desk to market liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from new projects to buyers in Asia, said senior executives of the Italian oil and gas company’s trading arm.
The expansion of ENI’s Singapore trade desk comes after the company earlier decided to integrate its LNG business with its upstream unit so that it can act as the marketing arm for new projects that are coming online – on-stream in the next years, said Franco Magnani, chief executive officer of Eni Trading and Shipping.
“What we want to do is to build a (LNG) portfolio as a company and this will require a much stronger presence in Asia than in the past in trading,” Magnani told reporters on the sidelines of the APPEC conference. “We’ll hire as the portfolio develops,” he said, adding that the Singapore office currently has two LNG traders.
In Asia, ENI exports LNG from its Jangkrik field in Indonesia through the Bontang terminal. In Africa, exports from the $8 billion project at the Coral South gas field off the coast of Mozambique could start in 2022. The project will produce 3.4 million tons per year of LNG. Eni could also export LNG from Egypt at a later stage, Magnani said.
The giant offshore Zohr gas field in Egypt, with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, is due to start production in December. Asian spot LNG prices have spiked to about $7 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) driven by new demand from China and South Asia despite expectations of a supply glut as projects in Australia and the United States come online. Eni said in May it had clinched a 15-year deal to supply 11 million tons a year of LNG to state-run import Pakistan LNG. Eni is the largest international oil company in Africa, producing close to 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company recently started production of Sankofa crude in Ghana. The field is expected to reach peak production of 45,000 barrels per day by year-end and two cargoes have been exported to Europe, according to Eni. The medium, low-sulphur crude will eventually head to China where Eni is working on expanding its customers base beyond state companies to independent refiners, Magnani said.
“The opportunity is there because they have the need and we have the qualities that they’re looking for,” said Jorge Montepeque, a senior vice president for origination at Eni. Still, challenges in logistics and financing will need to be worked out before Eni is able to supply oil directly to independent refiners, the executives said.
F/AK – nsnbc 28.09.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/09/28/eni-to-expand-singapore-trading-desk/
Posted in 
Tags: 
