The Gaselys tanker carrying the first LNG cargo produced by Russia’s first LNG facility in Yamal has arrived in Boston, the U.S. Coast Guard told Sputnik.
Bloomberg on Friday reported the tanker was sitting outside Boston Harbor and had been for several days, undergoing a safety inspection. Its destination was French Engie’s import terminal. This was the first LNG cargo from anywhere other than Trinidad and Tobago to arrive at a U.S. port in three years, Bloomberg noted.
The first cargo of Novatek’s Yamal LNG was initially loaded on the Christophe de Margerie tanker by French Total, which shipped it to Britain where it was transferred to the Gaselys. Engie told Bloomberg that it had bought the cargo on the spot market early this month as it tackles stronger LNG demand in New England because of the harsh winter weather.
French cargo trackers Kpler report that a second Russian LNG cargo is due to arrive in the U.S. around mid-February. The second cargo is due to sail from Dunkirk in France and will also go to New England where pipeline capacity is insufficient in satisfying the current levels of demand.
This second cargo Engie bought even before winter season began in anticipation of the spike, as supply from Trinidad would not be enough to meet it and gas pipeline capacity remained limited. Related: Elon Musk Could Go Unpaid For A Decade
Yamal LNG, the US$27-billion project in the Arctic and Russia’s first in LNG, is majority owned by Novatek in partnership with French Total. It began operations in early December 2017 and the first cargo, of 170,000 cubic meters, was shipped on December 11.
U.S. Sanctions against the Russian energy industry made financing the project more difficult since Novatek is one of their targets, but they do not cover shipments of Russian gas to the United States, sanctions experts told the Washington Post.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Granted, the distribution system in the US northeast needs improvement and expansion, however, that can't ignore the fact that we have an LNG terminal on the Gulf coast that could transport the needed LNG to the Northeast US.
What is equally preposterous is an LNG export facility in Dominion Point, Maryland, leading to the following rationalization. We don't have the pipeline capacity to meet US northeast demands, but that same pipeline system can provide LNG for export to be shipped around the world.
Go figure! The importing of natural gas, when the US reserves are at historical highs is blight on the US market-plain and simple.
(in case you don't like links, comment repeated minus link to chart of activity at Grain)