NWS LNG changes marketing structure

According to ICIS, partners in the Australian North West Shelf (NWS) LNG venture have moved to a new marketing structure.

From 1 June under this new structure, the venture will market uncommitted LNG volumes individually, instead of through the Australian consortium’s marketing agency.

Marketing structure

Sources told ICIS: “The new marketing structure started officially on Monday [1 June]. The change looks to be an improvement for the portfolio suppliers in the consortium, because they have their own vessels to decide the deliveries and can optimise on their positions.”

The change means that volumes not taken by offtakers or long-term supply contracts are returned to individual equity partners, ICIS explains. This includes excess production from the project. Each partner in the venture will then be able to sell their allocated volumes bilaterally, either through spot trades or tenders on both free on board (FOB) and delivered ex-ship (DES) terms.

The six participants in the NWS LNG venture are BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, Japan Australia LNG, Shell and Woodside Petroleum.

Potential impact?

The change in the marketing structure is not expected to affect any existing long-term contracts that NWS LNG has. This includes a contract signed with Guangdong Dapeng LNG Co. in 2002, which is a 3.7 million tpy supply deal for a period of 25 years.

According to data from ICIS LNG Edge, the NWS LNG project has sent a total of 19 cargoes to the Dapeng terminal, from January to early June 2015.

To read the full ICIS analysis from Lee Xieli, ICIS Market Reporter - LNG, please visit www.icis.com.

Edited from ICIS press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/10062015/north-west-shelf-lng-marketing-structure-changes-924/