OMAN - LNG Nets Huge Profit; 4rd Train Would Raise Exports To Almost 14M T/Y.

Oman Liquefied Natural Gas Co. (Oman LNG) has made almost $2 billion in net profits since it began exports in 2000. With the LNG business having proved to be so profitable with an income relatively more stable than revenues from crude oil, Oman's third train should be on stream by late 2005 and its capacity will be about 3.7m tons/year. The first two trains are being de-bottlenecked so that total LNG exports in 2006 would rise to about 10m t/y. A fourth train now being considered would raise exports to almost 14m t/y before 2010.

A state-of-the-art, deep sea LNG terminal has been built at Qalhat, near Sur and south-east of Muscat. The terminal is fitted with sophisticated loading equipment. Together with additional facilities being installed, the terminal in 2006 will be capable of handling LNG tankers of up to 147,000 CM.

The third LNG train will be owned by Qalhat LNG (QLNG), a company which will also own a feet of tankers for the refrigerated and liquefied methane. The ownership structure of QLNG is different from that of OLNG, with the government holding a big majority. Likewise, the fourth train will have a different ownership structure.

Shell, project leader for and 30% owner of OLNG, has managed to sell every drop of liquefied gas being produced at the two-train plant in Qalhat. Most of the surplus LNG quantities have been sold on spot basis and at varying prices. Spot shipments to the Spanish power/gas utility Iberdrola in late 2003 were reportedly priced at about $1.33/m BTU, indicating the extent to which Oman LNG was ready to compete in selling surplus LNG, while term LNG prices were more than four times higher.

Shell has established markets for LNG on both sides of Suez. Undeterred by the negative effects of 9/11 on the American market, Shell Gas & Power has since 2001 widened its share of the US gas market US through acquisition of the LNG terminal on Elba Island near Savannah, Georgia, which can take 2.5m t/y. It signed a 30-year contract for additional capacity to be created by expansion of El Paso's terminal, idle since 1982. Shell is expanding the terminal and its storage facility by 80% to 7.3 BCF; the send-out rate will be increased from 360 MCF/day to 800 MCF/d by mid-2005. A Shell executive was in early 2002 quoted as saying the $145m expansion "will enable gas supply to key markets in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina". Shell is keen to secure greater LNG access to the US market, where it anticipates strong demand growth in the coming years.