伊希斯第一批LNG货物将于本周装载

中国石化新闻网讯 据东京和新加坡彭博社10月16日消息，据知情人士透露，英佩克斯公司在澳大利亚北部运营的伊希斯液化天然气出口项目最早可能在本周装载第一批天然气货物。

知情人士说，第一批液化天然气货物定于10月17日至22日装运，11月再装三批。由于信息不公开，他们要求匿名。

这批货将是英佩克斯及其最大合作伙伴法国道达尔（Total）在2012年批准投资的400亿美元工厂的第一批天然气出口。两家公司星期一均拒绝置评。

如果货物运输顺利，该项目将在冬季需求旺季之前增加新的供应来源，并可能有助于抑制自2014以来，中国消费不断增长，油价上涨跃升至的最高价格。

彭博基金会驻新加坡分析师Fauziah Marzuki说：“如果有稳定可靠的产量，随着更多的太平洋盆地供应进入冬季需求旺季，价格应该会走软。”

该项目最近的活动表明，它计划开始天然气运输。英佩克斯公司10月1日宣布，它装载了第一批凝结物，一种轻质原油。10月初，该公司又收到了第二批所谓的冷却货物——一批注入核电站的液化天然气，以帮助为出口做准备。（这是5月份第一批冷却的货物。）日本首相安倍晋三也计划下个月访问位于伊希斯项目地点附近的达尔文。

初步计划中的四批货中的一些很可能是所谓的试运货物，LNG项目通常在商业销售开始前作为运行测试而出口。

胡晶晶摘译自彭博社

原文如下

Ichthys first LNG cargo is said possible as soon as this week

The Inpex Corp.-operated Ichthys LNG export project in northern Australia may load its first natural gas cargo as soon as this week, according to people with knowledge of the venture’s preliminary sales plans.

The maiden liquefied natural gas cargo is scheduled to be loaded Oct. 17-22, with three more following in November, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The shipments would be the first gas exports from the $40 billion plant, which was approved for investment in 2012 by Inpex and its biggest partner, France’s Total. Both companies declined to comment Monday.

If the cargoes are shipped without a hitch, the project would add a new source of supply just ahead of peak winter demand season and may help curb prices that have jumped to the highest since 2014 amid booming Chinese consumption and higher oil prices.

“If there is consistent and reliable production, it should soften prices as more Pacific-basin supply becomes available going into peak winter demand season,” said Fauziah Marzuki, a Singapore-based analyst with Bloomberg NEF.

Recent activity around the project indicated it was planning to start gas shipments. Inpex announced Oct. 1 that it loaded its first cargo of condensates, a light-form of crude oil. And it received a second so-called cool-down cargo -- an LNG load that’s injected into the plant to help prepare it for exports -- in early October. (It’s first cool-down cargo arrived in May.) As well, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to visit Darwin, near the site of the Ichthys project, next month.

It’s likely some of the four shipments in the preliminary schedule are so-called commissioning cargoes, which LNG projects usually export as a test run of operations before commercial sales begin.