Archives for September 2019

The agreement formally seals Japan’s engagement in the new EU-Asia connectivity plan and was signed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the Europa Connectivity Forum in Brussels on Friday.

“Whether it be a single road or a single port, when the EU and Japan undertake something, we are able to build sustainable, rules-based connectivity from the Indo-Pacific to the Western Balkans and Africa,” Abe told reporters ahead of the signing ceremony.

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EU officials have turned to Japan in an apparent move to evade attracting Chinese financing, fearing what they see as China’s dominance in infrastructure building across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Since 2013, China funded the construction of bridges, roads and tunnels across more than 60 countries under its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, which aims to build a network of land and sea links with Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

“The sea route that leads to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic must be open,” Abe said, emphasizing the deal’s signatories’ aim to prevent China-financed projects from dominating EU-Asia transport links.

“Japan and the EU endeavor to ensure synergies and complementarity between their respective cooperation on connectivity and quality infrastructure with partner third countries and coordinate action, notably in the regions of the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Indo-Pacific, as well as in Africa,” the bilateral document states.

Also on rt.com China’s new Silk Road to link Africa’s huge market to the rest of the world – official

The deal is also to ensure “transparent procurement practices,” as well as “free, open, fair, non-discriminatory and predictable regional and international trade and investment.” It will be backed by a €60 billion ($65.48 billion) EU guarantee fund, development banks and private investors. The signatories promised to pay “utmost attention” to the sides’ “fiscal capacity and debt-sustainability.” Jean-Claude Juncker promised to help build infrastructure “without mountains of debt” or a reliance “on a single country.”

Although not all the money distributed under the deal will be spent in Asia, the EU’s new agenda makes spending on infrastructure links with Asia official EU policy, which also involves the bloc’s common budget.

The two-day Europa Connectivity Forum is a multi-nation convention which aims to enforce ties between governments, financial institutions and private sectors, across Europe and beyond. This year’s Forum, held under the theme “EU-Asia Connectivity: Building Bridges for a Sustainable Future,” is focused on strengthening cooperation between the EU and its partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/469754-eu-japan-asia-deal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

“This year, 2019 already broke the highest amount of (final investment decisions) for the first time ever, $50 billion,” Birol told the LNG Producer-Consumer conference in Tokyo, as quoted by Reuters.

Unsurprisingly, the driver of this growth in investments is growing demand for the fuel in Asia, with China still expected to overtake Japan as the world’s top importer of LNG.

Also on rt.com China wants to build world’s biggest LNG tanker

“The biggest growth is coming from China. In the next five years, about one-third of global LNG demand will come from China alone,” Birol said. He added that in five years, China will become the largest importer of the fuel.

As for the growth in investments, there are no surprises there, either. The bulk of these has been made in the United States and Canada.

In a December 2018 report the Energy Information Administration said it expected the United States’ LNG export capacity to double by the end of this year to 8.9 billion cu ft daily. This will make the US the third-largest exporter of LNG in terms of capacity after Qatar and Australia. By 2030, US LNG exports are estimated to reach 17 billion cu ft daily, from some 3 billion cu ft at the start of 2019.

Also on rt.com Russian shipments of LNG to Europe Asia leave United States well behind

In Canada, there is just one LNG project under development right now—LNG Canada—but it could have a final capacity of 28 million tons of the fuel annually. The US$31-billion project is led by Shell, with minority participants including Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi, and Kogas.

Meanwhile, Qatar is stepping up its efforts to keep its number-one spot in the global LNG export race. The country has lifted a moratorium on new drilling in its North Field—the world’s largest offshore gas field Qatar shares with Iran—aiming to boost export capacity by 43 percent to 11 million tons annually.

Global LNG demand is seen at 550 million tons by 2030, according to projections by IHS Markit.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/469748-lng-investments-record-high/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

According to Petr Wozniak, head of Poland’s state oil and gas company PGNIG, Gazprom’s continued operation of the Opal pipeline at full capacity would lead to terrible consequences for his country.

“This would lead to tragic supply interruptions, which are unacceptable for our gas transmission system and consumers,” Wozniak said at a Polish economic forum on Thursday, as quoted by the Biznes Alert portal.

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Wozniak stated that if the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had not decided to limit the transfer of Russian gas via the Opal pipeline, there “would not have [been] enough gas in southeastern Poland.” On the other hand, if the gas transfer via Opal was reduced, increased volumes of Russian gas would flow into Poland via Ukraine.

“These missing volumes of gas, which Gazprom should reduce transmitting via Opal, will be sent [to Poland] through Ukraine,” Wozniak said.

On September 10, the European Court annulled the 2016 European Commission decision to allow Gazprom use Opal to 100 percent of its capacity, which is 36 billion cubic meters per year. The decision was made on Poland’s demand, with Warsaw claiming Gazprom’s full use of Opal threatened gas supplies to central and eastern Europe.

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Now the Russian state energy giant can use only 50 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity. Wozniak said at the time the ECJ’s decision would prevent Gazprom from completely halting transit via Ukraine, a prospect feared by Kiev as its gas-transit contract with Russia expires in January.

The Russian company did reduce Opal supplies starting September 14, while slightly increasing pumping through the Nel gas pipeline, which also receives gas from Nord Stream but has less capacity than Opal. At the same time, Gazprom also began to pump more gas through Ukraine.

Opal is a branch pipe connecting Nord Stream with the gas transmission system of Central and Western Europe. The gas enters Germany at the border with the Czech Republic.

Both Poland and Ukraine fear that Gazprom may decide to bypass legacy gas routes via these two neighboring states when it doubles the capacity of Nord Stream with the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, now in the final stages of construction. Nord Stream 2 will be owned and operated by Gazprom, though 50% of the funding is provided by Germany’s Uniper and BASF’s Wintershall unit, Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell, Austria’s OMV and France’s Engie.

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Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/469740-opal-gazprom-poland-eu/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS