The construction-ready project will use a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 25 MW (12.5 MWh) and is due for completion in early 2018.

The 4-year EFR contract, was awarded by National Grid in the 2016 tender, provides a sound base revenue stream for the owner and operator for the Tynemouth power storage. Element Power had secured the EFR contract at the time which is hailed as “one of the best remunerated among those awarded in last year’s EFR tender, with a price of around £12/MWh.

For Enel, Tynemouth project represents “an attractive investment opportunity with a fast time to market due to its short time for construction,” the utility said in a statement.

The Italian utility pointed out that Britain is one of the most advanced markets in the world for utility-scale battery storage systems and one of the first in having set a frequency regulation tender awarding only stand-alone battery storage projects.

“This offers multiple revenues streams opportunities, including both fixed payments and market remuneration schemes, and features good growth potential,”Enel said with reference to analyst estimates that 700 MW of different kind of storage projects will be installed in UK by 2021.

“Due to the increasing role of renewable energy sources, the growing need of grid balancing services and the fast reduction of technology costs, the BESS market is expected to grow exponentially in all geographies in the next years,” Enrico Viale, Enel’s Head of Global Thermal Generation division said suggesting that for this reason, Tynemouth represents for Enel “an opportunity to gain experience and strategic knowledge in building such projects, which can then be applied to other markets”.

The other is an eight-year service and maintenance agreement for the two SGT5-4000F gas turbines and the SST-5000 steam turbine in operation at the Genelba combined-cycle power plant.

Both plants are situated in Marcos Paz, in the greater Buenos Aires urban agglomeration, and add a combined 825 MW of capacity to the region, enough to power approximately 83,000 homes.

"As Argentina works to strengthen its energy infrastructure, the continued reliability of its power plants is of vital importance," Tim Frace, VP Siemens Power Generation Services for Latin America said. He underlined that the German OEM is “committed to providing [our] innovative service, maintenance products and digital service solutions to Pampa Energia, as well as our engineering expertise and local support.”

The agreements cover spare parts, repairs, logistics support, field services as well as Siemens Power Diagnostic, a data-driven solution.

Genelba 21 will see an upgrade of the plant’s gas turbine blades with Siemens' Si3D blades. These novel blade type is designed to improve power output and thermal efficiency through a combination of 3D aerodynamic design, advanced sealing, cooling improvements, and advanced materials.

At the Genelba combined-cycle plant, Siemens will upgrade the inlet guide vane system (IGV) on the plant's turbines. The IGV upgrade optimizes performance and increases the power from the gas turbines by adjusting the IGV positioning system to function at a wider operating range.

Siemens latest order win in Argentina builds on a 2016 letter of agreement, signed with the Argentine government, to intensify cooperation in the energy sector and beyond.

As for the ‘eastern route, a two-way checkpoint on the Russian-Chinese border was set up on May 11 to help facilitate construction start of the “Power of Siberia” pipeline crossing under the Amur River. Gazprom and CNPC have also discussed the starting dates for gas supplies the new gas pipeline.

“Construction of Power of Siberia is proceeding at a rapid pace. As of today, 719 kilometers of the gas pipeline’s linear section have been built,” Gazprom’s Vitaly Markelov said, underlining opening of the checkpoint will help clarify the pipeline’s cross-border gas transmission capacities.

Gazprom and CNPC had signed a 30-year agreement for Russian gas deliveries to China of 38 billion cubic meters per year (Bcm/y) back in 2014.

Deal to develop gas storage, joint power projects

After the latest meeting in Beijing, Gazprom and CNPC executives also signed three contracts to conduct pre-development surveys for the purposes of creating underground gas storage (UGS) facilities within the Shenzhen 2–1 gas deposit (Heilongjiang province), Baiju aquifers (Jiangsu province), and Chuzhou salt caverns (Jiangsu province). Geotechnical surveys will be conducted prior to building the UGS.

Trying to get a foothold in China’s domestic power sector, Gazprom seeks to implement joint projects for the construction of thermal power plants. To that end, a memorandum was signed between Gazprom, CNPC, and China Huaneng Group. State-run China Huaneng is the world leader in terms of installed generating capacity and annual electricity output.

Another Gazprom initiative is to develop road links between Russia and China, while promoting the use of LNG as a vehicle fuel along this route. The Russian gas export monopoly said it aspires to develop the Europe – Western China international transport route.

But the operating temperatures of modern gas turbine combustion systems can occasionally exceed 1,600 degrees Celsius, researchers pointed out. Kyoto University found that fabricating molybdenum silicide-based composite - by pressing and heating their powders (powder metallurgy) - improves resistance to fracturing at ambient temperatures. But this process also lowers the material’s high-temperature strength, owing to the inclusion of silicon dioxide layers within the material.

Using ‘directional solidification’, the team managed to fabricate their molybdenum silicide-based materials. The team found that a homogeneous material could be formed by controlling the solidification rate of the composite during fabrication, and by adjusting ternary elements added to the composite.

Tantalum increases material strength

“The new material only starts to deform plastically under uniaxial compression above 1,000 degrees Celsius,” researchers said, adding the material's high-temperature strength increases through microstructure refinement.

“Adding tantalum to the composite is more effective than adding vanadium, niobium or tungsten for improving the strength of the material at temperatures around 1400 degrees Celsius,” they pointed out.

In a report, published in the Journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, the researchers pointed out that alloys fabricated at Kyoto University are “much stronger at high temperatures than modern nickel-based super-alloys as well as recently developed ultrahigh-temperature structural materials.”

“We are very pleased with the way the plant is performing so soon after startup. Initial tests show Stonewall is already exceeding guarantees for both power output and efficiency,” commented Todd W. Carter, CEO and senior partner of Panda Power Fund.

John Gibson, Siemens’ head of sales North America pointed out that the Stonewall projects “continues our successful partnership with Panda Power Funds. Working once again with Bechtel, we’ve delivered a turnkey power plant that adds a significant source of efficient and reliable power to the grid.”

For the Stonewall CCPP, Siemens delivered the power island equipment, including two SGT6-5000F gas turbines, one SST6-5000 steam turbine with an SCon-4000 condenser, two SGen6-1000A generators, one SGen6-2000H generator and two NEM duct-fired heat recovery steam generators along with the complete electrical system and SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system.

All components were manufactured at Siemens’ Charlotte Energy Hub, the global base for the company’s 60 Hz power generating equipment.

Funding for the total project costs was secured through a financing package utilizing senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity. In support of this package, Siemens’ Financial Services Division made a $75 million equity investment.

Passionate to challenge Britain’s Big Six incumbent energy suppliers, UKPR invested in small-scale, decentralised power – notably gas recip engines and battery storage. With this approach, the company is spearheading the UK’s shift to a decentralised system in which wind and solar generation is complemented by flexible energy sources.

In the 2016 auction, UKPR secured contracts to deliver 120MW of battery storage capacity – making it the Britain’s biggest independent developer of this type of technology. Moreover, in the 2014 and 2014 auctions, the company won long-term government contracts which underpin the company’s anticipated Ebitda growth over the next decade.

The Award Judges said they selected the UKPR team due the impressive growth it has achieved since it was established in 2010. “Since being backed by private equity in 2015, Tim Emrich and his team have grown the business by investing in greater efficiency and responding in a fast and entrepreneurial manner to new opportunities,” they said. “The business is increasing its footprint in the UK, with further potential internationally.”

Rising hydroelectric output in CAISO, along with a steady rise in grid-connected solar power generation, has offset lower gas generation so far in 2017. However, in early May, unseasonably warm weather led to an 80% increase in gas use for power generation compared with daily averages in April.

Through May 8, California has averaged 38 inches of snow-water equivalent since the first of the year, about double the precipitation through that point in 2016. In the first four months of 2017, average daily solar output has increased by 27% over the same time period for 2016, according to EnergyGPS data.

Warmer weather this summer will likely result in increased use of natural gas, notably for electric air conditioning. The availability of natural gas in Southern California has implications for regional power generation – particularly as there are still bottlenecks in gas supply due to operating restrictions on SoCalGas's Aliso Canyon field, an underground natural gas storage facility with a capacity of 86 billion cubic feet (Bcf), or 64% of SoCalGas's total storage capacity.

Withdrawals from Aliso Canyon gas storage are still impacted by a leak that was initially detected in late October 2015 and plugged in February 2016. At the time, gas storage levels plunged to 15 Bcf, and inventories at all of SoCalGas's storage facilities fell to just 60 Bcf throughout most of the past year.

The past summer was marked by severe gas shortages and interventions at regulatory and state level to avoid electricity shortages: In June 2016, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) conditionally authorized SoCalGas to withdraw the remaining 15 Bcf at Aliso Canyon.

Technical difficulties to replenish the Aliso Canyon in summer 2016, limited availability during the winter withdrawal season: A total of 19 Bcf was withdrawn from the SoCalGas system from November 2016 through the end of March 2017, including withdrawals from Aliso Canyon during a two-day cold snap in late January. By comparison, over the five prior November-through-March periods, withdrawals averaged nearly 60 Bcf, ranging from 31 Bcf to 103 Bcf. As of May 16, SoCalGas's inventory stands at 43 Bcf.

On May 22, a Joint Agency Workshop on Energy Reliability in Southern California will be held by the CASIO grid operator, California Energy Commission (CEC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Daily statistics on regional temperatures, electric power loads, natural gas flows, SoCalGas send-out, changes in SoCalGas inventories, and spot natural gas and electric power prices can be found in the EIA’s Southern California Daily Energy Report.

“Cutting the outage time by seven days enhances productivity at Marafiq and enables the team to deliver more electricity to benefit the local community,” said Jomel general manager Stefan Verlee.

Jomel (Jubail Operations and Maintenance Company), a joint venture between ENGIE and Nomac, carries out operations and maintenance services for Marafiq. Commenting on the latest maintenance process, GE said improved on its own Saudi Arabia record in 7FA outage cycle time of 22 days.

To achieve this milestone, the two partners carefully planned the outage cycle process, identified risks beforehand and ensured quality control. Adequate resources were in place for a smooth and speedy execution, backed by the GE Manufacturing & Technology Center (GEMTEC) and its engineering and support team in Dammam.

“The new outage execution record at Marafiq highlights GE’s commitment to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible to deliver better results for our customers in the power generation industry,” said Joseph Anis, President & CEO of GE’s Power Services business in the Middle East & Africa.

Hisham Al Bahkali, President & CEO, GE Saudi Arabia & Bahrain added GE’s investments in local facilities such as GEMTEC helps improve the professional capabilities of Saudis and supports the Kingdom’s goals under Saudi Vision 2030.

Ownership of the Marafiq IWPP in Jubail held by a joint venture between Marafiq, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the Public Investment Fund of the Ministry of Finance and the International Suez Consortium, comprising Suez Energy of Belgium, Gulf Investment Corporation of Kuwait and ACWA Power Projects of Saudi Arabia.

The Marafiq IWPP provides electricity to the cities Jubail and Yanb; it is driven by 12 GE Frame 7FA gas turbines, four steam turbines and 12 heat recovery steam generators.

Industry –notably refining, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and construction – is one of the largest energy consuming sectors. Globally, the industrial sector’s energy use is seen rise by more than 30% between 2018 and 2050 as consumption of goods increases.

Energy use for transportation, meanwhile, is seen rise by nearly 40% between 2018 and 2050, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) states in its newly released IEO2019 reference case. This increase is largely driven by non-OECD countries, where transport-related energy use is expected to surge nearly 80% over the forecast period.

Energy use for both personal travel and freight movement will grow much more rapidly in non-OECD countries than in most of the developed world. For example, energy demand growth in the U.S. is expected to remain “largely unchanged” compared to previous years.

Buildings is another large energy sink, whose total consumption for both residential and commercial structures is seen rise by 65% in the years through to 2050, up from 91 quadrillion to 139 quadrillion Btu. “Rising income, urbanization, and increased access to electricity lead to rising demand for energy,” EIA analysts commented.

Power generation, in consequence, will have to rise by 79% over the years to 2050 in order to meet the world’s fast-growing energy needs. Rising populations and standards of living in non-OECD countries keep pushing up the use of electric appliances and electric heating in the residential sector. At the same time, the growing use of electric vehicles pushes up household electricity use in the transport sector.

As installed generation capacity keeps growing, renewables are seen to become the world’s fastest growing energy sources over the coming three decades, surpassing petroleum and other liquids. According to the IEO2019 Reference case, worldwide renewable energy consumption increases by 3.1% per year between 2018 and 2050, compared with 0.6% annual growth in petroleum and other liquids, 0.4% growth in coal, and 1.1% annual growth in natural gas consumption.

Global gas use is seen rising more than 40% between 2018 and 2050, while total consumption is set to reach nearly 200 quadrillion Btu by 2050. In addition to growing gas-burn for electricity generation, gas consumption also increases in the industrial sector, notably for chemical and primary metals manufacturing.

Consumption of liquid fuels, meanwhile, is forecast to increases more than 20% between 2018 and 2050 worldwide. Total consumption is forecast to reach more than 240 quadrillion Btu in 2050, spurred by a 45% rise in non-OECD demand.

A staggering 1,291GW of new battery capacity are forecast to be added to 2050, some 40% of which will be placed behind-the-meter. “Battery prices are already down 79% in 2010, and we expect the ongoing build-out of battery manufacturing for electric vehicles to continue to drive down their prices for stationary applications, so that they reach $70/kWh by 2030, 67% down from today,” commented Seb Henbest at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Reacting to this trend, GE has developed solutions to modernize the grid through digital transformers and substations, asset lifecycle management services and advanced energy management systems (EMS) with full WAMS enhancement. These systems enable grid operators to increase network utilization and stability, allowing for greater renewable integration and network automation.

Smart grids & digital substations

Smart grids are able to recalibrate itself in real-time to balance demand and integrate multiple-generation resources. Digital substations, meanwhile, enable utility operators to maximize asset and substation utilization up to 30%. Operators can also collect and analyze data to detect potential failures up to six months in advance.

With this in mind, GE Power’s Grid Solutions has created digitally connected solutions including the “Digital Twin” for Power Transformers whose sensor technology delivers condition-based data and statistic models to build a software-enabled model of the transformer or even the entire substation. This interactive model allows operators to move from reactive to predictive maintenance solutions and improve system efficiency.

GE’s Asset Lifecycle Management Services include methods to collect distribution and transmission asset data with a view to reducing failure rates by up to 50%, lower maintenance costs by up to 25% and extend asset life by up to 20%. By incorporating the use of data, these end-to-end services optimize grid asset management strategies.

Digital transformation – applied to Sub-Saharan Africa – could help deliver efficient, affordable and reliable electricity to consumers. According to a GE whitepaper, co-authored by Frost & Sullivan, smart grids will play a key role in the region. They could facilitate smooth integration of renewable energy sources; promote interoperability between all types of equipment; enable the growth of distributed generation, support demand-side management; and provide flexibility and visibility of the entire grid.

“Transmission and distribution networks are seen to be the weakest links in Africa’s power systems and hence represent a huge opportunity area for improvement,” Lazarus Angbazo, CEO, GE’s Grid Solutions business, Sub Saharan Africa said, stressing the need to “move beyond simply maintaining and repairing aged infrastructure.” “To truly advance the power sector, a holistic approach needs to be adopted,” he added, suggesting by utilizing internet of things (IoT) technology, the smarter grids help converge operating technology (OT) with information technology (IT), while incorporating distributed generation and energy storage.

Using the price-to-book methodology, Wood Mackenzie reckons China’s new state TSO will initially be worth just over $80 billion. However, the company is expected to seek a public listing after two years of operation to access funds for infrastructure investment. Such a listing would increase the company’s value significantly.

Bundling key pipelines

Beijing is enforcing the nationalization of all onshore oil and gas trunkline owned by PetroChina, Sinopec Group and CNOOC, as well as China-Myanmar import pipelines and suburban pipelines above 4 million tons per annum. All these assets will be operated by a state transmission system operator (TSO) to ensure fair access to take-away pipeline capacity for independent upstream producers, and gas importers.

PetroChina is the only one of China’s three big oil and gas companies with a substantial midstream business, accounting for 25 percent of operating earnings over the past five years. The company operates the largest pipeline network in the world, accounting for 63% of China’s total network

“Wresting these assets from PetroChina means it will partly lose its operational leverage and financial strength. Operating cashflow and income will be weaker, potentially putting the company’s future dividend at risk as PetroChina’s payout policy is based on earnings,” commented Wood Mackenzie senior analyst, Maxim Petrov.

Revaluating infrastructure

PetroChina is expected to be the main beneficiary from this reform, hoping to gain a higher valuation for its large midstream pipeline asses and a gas price that better reflects its cost of supply.  “It takes time for a market-based price to emerge after third-party access, [but] this midstream reform is a step in the right direction,” commented Wood Mackenzie consultant Xueke Wang.

“Post-reform, we think the three national oil companies (NOCs) could collectively hold up to 70 percent ownership of the national pipeline company, with PetroChina taking pole position at just under 50 percent,” said Wood Mackenzie senior analyst, Maxim Petrov. The remaining share will be directly by the government or state-owned financial institutions.

After a public listing of the state oil and gas transmission system operator (TSO), PetroChina’s pipeline assets might well be revaluated at a higher multiple than currently, unlocking value for shareholders.

State TSO hoped to help meet demand growth

China’s current infrastructure is insufficient to meet energy demand growth. Pipelines are already running at maximum capacity during peak seasons, and gas demand is expected to rise 2.5 times from 2018 to 673 billion cubic metres (bcm), accounting for half of Asia’s gas consumption by 2040.

By 2025, the Chinese government seeks to double its pipeline infrastructure to over 240,000 km which means PetroChina’s midstream spending could hit up to $20 billion a year.  On the positive side, “pipeline reform means the company will no longer be liable for this spend,” Petrov noted “which frees up funds for domestic investment and overseas expansion.”

Powered by MAN CEON, PrimeServ EyeTech is the company’s new digital service solution. Development started in 2018, and now testing of the smart glasses is underway in field operation. The remote support tool enables mobile video conferences to be set up via data glasses, allowing MAN technicians to take the customer's perspective without having to be on site themselves.

The solution combines a safety helmet with a camera, micro screen, microphone and headphones. The camera mounted on the helmet enables the MAN expert to see on screen what the technician sees on site and to guide the technician visually and acoustically through maintenance processes. Additional information is provided to the customer via a helmet display.

“Our experts can help quickly and easily through interactive video calls set up via the glasses. Assisted-reality solutions have enormous potential for plant maintenance and repairs,” said Roland Kabitzke, MAN’s learning and development manager. “Assisted reality” is a technology that allows a person to share their own environment with an expert who can help solve a problem in real time.

Assisted reality improves customer support

Digitalization becomes very concrete with PrimeServ EyeTech: Using assisted reality creates a direct customer benefit.

“The technology saves time, money and is good for the environment because our experts don't have to travel as much,” stressed Nico Billinger, head of the Oberhausen Digital Operation Center. “PrimeServ EyeTech connects our experts with our customers quickly and gives them access to our worldwide network of experts. For example, a specialist in India can solve a problem for a customer in the USA without having to travel.”

Extrapolating on the government's climate package, EWI experts estimate that Germany's annual gross power consumption will reach 748 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2030, a 26 percent rise compared to 595 TWh in 2018. "This is due to the desired breakthrough of electric mobility, but we also expect a significant increase in electricity consumption in the heating sector," explained EWI analyst Max Gierkink.

The German government, meanwhile, has projected gross power consumption to fall by 5 TWh by 2030. Hence, Germany would have to make "very, very large efficiency gains", according to Agora Energiewende estimates to meet its renewable energy expansion targets.

EWI estimates that renewable power production will increase by 53 percent by 2030, but when factoring in the country’s rising energy demand, the additional renewable power supply will not be enough to cover just half of the country's power consumption. Germany would consequently fail its target of a 65 percent share of renewables in gross power consumption 2030 by a considerable margin.

In 2019, renewables made up 42.8 percent of Germany's gross power consumption, compared to 38.2 percent in 2018, preliminary data from BDEW showed in December. Despite this nominal rise, there was a considerable drop in onshore wind power expansion – the central technology of Germany's energy transition. According to BDEW, 3.7 Gigawatts (GW) of new turbines have to be added every year to reach the country's 2030 renewables goal of 65 percent in power demand.

Natural gas to become second pillar of German energy transition

The use of gas from all sources will become more important as Germany seeks to decarbonise is economy, BDEW forecast, noting the continuous expansion of wind and solar power would remain “the Energiewende's main challenge.”

Given that Germany will end nuclear power after 2022 and is aiming to gradually phase out coal by 2038 at the latest, natural gas-fuelled electricity generation is likely to become "the Energiewende's second pillar", says the new head of BDEW, Kerstin Andreae.

She hailed the economy ministry's decision to classify gaseous energy carriers as a necessary long-term component of Germany's energy transition as a "milestone” for the large scale roll-out of power-to-gas technology to produce hydrogen from excess wind and solar power supply. "We need to create a market for green gas," Andreae said, adding that the use of green gases for sector coupling measures and as an energy storage mechanism had to be developed further.

The share of gas in Germany’s power generation mix has risen to 15 percent in 2019, up from 13 percent in the previous year. More emission-intensive hard coal and lignite declined by 15 percent to currently about 28 percent today when counted together, while the share of renewables in Germany’s gross power output climbed to 40 percent.

The offtake accord is, however, conditional on Woodside taking a positive financial investment decision (FID) on the Scarborough gas development in Western Australia.

Uniper, Germany’s largest power producer and one of Europe’s largest utilities, said is strategic marketing is focused on providing energy solutions for power stations, industrial facilities, electricity grids in the Middle East, the Americas and Asia as well as in Europe. In short, that’s a focus on midstream gas consumers in the regions that import LNG as a fuel for power generation.

Brunsbüttel FSRU to diversify Germany’s gas sources

Gas is imported to Germany exclusively by pipeline- mostly from Russia, Norway and the Netherlands - and strikingly Europe’s largest economy to date has no infrastructure for the direct import of LNG. But the Germany government has given the green light to an LNG import terminal, noting this should be seen as “a gesture of goodwill to our American friends.”

The Dutch companies Gasunie and Vopak, together with Germany’s Oiltanking, formed a joint venture last year called German LNG terminal that they plan to build in Brunsbüttel at a cost of €450 million ($526 million).  Once build, the facility could meet about 10% of Germany’s gas demand.

A “considerable part” of the terminal’s total capacity of 5 billion cubic metres has already been contracted long-term by RWE in an open season held by German LNG Terminal GmbH.

“LNG remains a key growth area for RWE: this agreement will enable us to continue growing our portfolio and provide us with additional flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities as they present themselves in the global LNG market,“ commented Andree Stracke, RWE’s Chief Commercial Officer Gas Supply & Origination.

Apart from the Brunsbüttel LNG project, at least two other cities are competing to be the chosen site, Altmaier noted. Wilhelmshaven is understood to be one of them.

TFF gas trading volumes amounted to 24,321 TWh – significantly than the 1,757 TWh traded in German NCG contracts. In France, volumes of gas contracts traded at the PEG hub increased 41% to 535 TWh, marking a small but significant rise on year after the regulator merged France’s two regional gas trading hubs into one.

NBP traded volumes, which are not factored into the European total figures, fell 27% to just under 5,000 TWh. The Zebrugge hub also lost ground year-on-year through October 2019, according to Leba data.

TTF gas prices eased

Leba, represents UK-regulated brokers in the OTC and exchange-traded European energy markets. Latest date provided by Leba also showed that the average day-ahead Dutch TTF price for the year through October 2019 was 10.34 Euros per megawatt hour ($3.37 per million British thermal units) in October 2019 versus 25.66 €/MWh ($8.39/MMBtu) in October 2018, down 59.70 percent.

The average day-ahead NBP price for the year through October 2019 was 26.21 pence per therm ($3.43 per MMBtu) versus 66.97 ph/t ($8.78/MMBtu) in October 2018, down 60.86 percent.

The Dutch TTF and UK NBP prices are the main indicators used when pricing Atlantic Basin LNG cargo trades.

All other energy commodities increased in price over the past year, notably RBOB (reformulated blendstock for oxygenate blending), heating oil, and gasoil rose by 28 percent, 19 percent, and 19 percent, respectively.

Price changes for each commodity are weighted by their relative importance in the broader market. WTI and Brent crude oil prices accounted for 72% of the weighting in the S&P GSCI energy index and 45 percent of the total GSCI in 2019. Since the creation of the index, WTI and Brent have been the GSCI’s highest and second-highest weighted commodities, respectively, so both the GSCI and the energy sub-index tend to follow major price movements of these crude oils.

Prices of many nonenergy commodities tend to move in the same direction as energy commodities. For instance, because consumers use more copper and more crude oil when the economy is expanding, copper prices and the Brent crude oil price typically move together.

Conversely, precious metals such as gold and silver are typically seen as safe assets with values that increase with economic contractions. Gold and silver prices are positively correlated with each other but negatively correlated with commodities associated with economic expansion.

Pipe-laying for TurkStream took 15 months and was completed ahead of schedule, Gazprom underlined. The interconnector is “unique from a technological standpoint,” it stressed given that for the first time ever, a pipeline of 813 millimeters in diameter was laid at a depth of 2,200 meters.

The starting point of TurkStream is the Russkaya compressor station near the twon of Anapa. With 224 MW capacity, it maintains the pressure required for transmitting gas along the pipeline's two strings through more than 930 kilometers up to the Turkish coast where gas enters the receiving terminal near the city of Kiyikoy.

“The launch of TurkStream is a history-making event. Taking into account exports via Blue Stream, we have paved the way for direct transit-free supplies to fully meet Turkey's needs for Gazprom's gas. Europe now has a new and reliable route to receive Russian pipeline gas,” said the chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexey Miller said at the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

“Thanks to all of this, our cooperation with our Turkish and European partners is shifting to a new level,” he said, suggesting “[it] is going to help improve energy security in the region.”

Total will source and supply the LNG cargoes from its global gas portfolio, and supply it to Mozambique via a floating storage and regas unit (FSRU) that will be anchored in the port of Matola.

Works to install the FSRU will commence in June 2020, and are meant to be completed in 16 months. Thereafter, a feeder pipeline will be built to transport the gas from Matola port to the planned Beluluane power station, using the Matola Gas Company’s existing infrastructure.

 “Greater availability of gas” is vital to get the Beluluane CCGT off the ground, said Bruno Morgado, CEO of the Matola Gas Company. Domestic supply is scarce given that “the fields at Pande and Temane will begin to decline in a more or less rapid manner,” he said, stressing “there simply wasn’t enough gas for this [project].”

Once up and running, the 2 GW power plant will produce enough electricity for industry and households in greater Beluluane, with excess electricity to be exported to Botswana and South Africa.

In the long run, the government of Mozambique is aspiring to turn the country into a regional LNG hub, selling gas on to island countries such as Madagascar and Mauritius.

The latest push for a deadline extension, if granted, would push back India’s emission targets for a second time. The government had already extended its initial December 2017 deadlines for electricity producers to meet tighter emission restrictions, bowing to pressure from the coal industry.

Pushing for further delays

Privately-held Adani Power, for once, calls for an extension of stricter emission limits at two of its large-scale power stations until March 2023. The two units were purchased from the GMR Group last year, and the Adani claims there would still be ownership issues to be resolved before looking into a plant retrofit.

State-owned NTPC, India’s largest utility, has sought to push back the deadline by up to two years at its Bongaigaon eastern Indian plant.

Coal is by far India’s dominant energy source, and the power sector accounts for two-thirds of India's coal consumption. Now policy makers and regulators in the second largest economy in the Asia-Pacific region needs to decide on whether they want to stick to their green energy targets, or keep watering them down.

Opposing FGD tech for retrofits

In a letter to the regulator, Adani said: “It is requested to kindly extend the flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) installation schedule for Raikheda thermal power plant of GMR Chattisgarh Energy to 31-March-2023." The FGD equipment is used to reduce emissions of gases known to cause lung diseases.

Small-scale power generators for industrial use, represented by the Indian captive power producers association, argue “the way FGD technology is being forced upon the industry is not practically sustainable."

Spot prices at the national benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana averaged $2.57 per million British thermal units in the past year, about 60 cents per MMBtu lower than in 2018 and the lowest annual for three years. According to EIA figures, monthly average natural gas prices at most key regional trading hubs in 2019 reached their highest levels in February, and they were relatively low and stable from April through December. 

In the US Northeast, additional imports of LNG into New England limited price spikes during the winter of 2018-2019.

Despite a cold snap in the Midwest in February 2019, natural gas prices at Chicago Citygate were lower than during previous extreme weather events. “However, in the Pacific Northwest, unseasonably cold weather at the end of winter coupled with regional supply constraints and decreased storage inventories led to significant price spikes at the Northwest Sumas hub in March,” analysts commented.

Exports keep growing

Natural gas exports - both by pipeline to Mexico and as LNG - continued to grow. U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico by pipeline averaged 5.1 billion cubic feet per day in the first 10 months of 2019, 0.4 Bcf/d more than the 2018 average.

Most of the new pipelines placed in service in 2019 were located in the South Central and Northeast regions. Analysts noted these pipelines provide additional takeaway capacity out of the Permian and Appalachian supply basins and will serve growing demand for LNG exports, pipeline exports to Mexico and US natural gas-fired power generation.

Additional pipeline takeaway capacity in the Permian region eased some infrastructure constraints and increased regional prices at the Waha hub in western Texas after six consecutive months of prices lower than $1 per MMBtu (March through August).