Lagos Gas Explosion Destroys Buildings & Fatalities number hit 15 peoples

LAGOS (Reuters) — An explosion at a gas processing plant on Sunday killed at least 15 people and destroyed about 50 buildings after a fire broke out in a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, emergency services said.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the explosion was triggered after a truck hit some gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant near the corporation's pipeline in Abule Ado area of Lagos state.

The impact of the explosion led to the collapse of nearby houses, damaged NNPC's pipeline and caused the corporation to halt pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline, the state-owned oil company said in a statement.

Several people were injured and taken to hospital, according to Ibrahim Farinloye, zonal coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Plumes of smoke billowed into the air as people watched, while firefighters tried to quench the flames, a Reuters witness said.

Farinloye told Reuters that "the explosion destroyed over 50 residential houses."

Pipeline fires in Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude oil producer, are common and they are mostly caused by theft and sabotage. The methods used to steal oil often result in accidents that cause fires.

"The fire started with smoke," one eyewitness said. "The smoke was coming up and later we heard a sound ... and some houses collapsed even the roofs."

NNPC said that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to the Lagos and surrounding towns.

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Cano Limon pipeline Stop Operating after a bomb attack

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol has halted pumping on its Cano Limon pipeline after a bomb attack in the country's northeast caused a fire and spillage of crude into waterways.

The attack took place on Tuesday afternoon in Toledo municipality in Norte de Santander province, which borders Venezuela, Ecopetrol pipeline subsidiary Cenit said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The attack produced a rupture in the pipeline, a fire and the falling of crude into the La Petra ravine and the Sararito and Margua rivers," Cenit said.

There were 71 attacks on Colombian pipelines in 2019, down 33.6% from the year before.

The 480-mile (770-km) Cano Limon is a top target for bombings; it has suffered eight attacks so far this year and weathered 42 in 2019, according to Ecopetrol.

The attack has not affected exports or work in the Cano Limon oilfield, which is operated by Occidental Petroleum , because crude can also be transported on the mostly underground Bicentenario pipeline.

Although Cenit did not name the group responsible for the bombing, an army source in the region said leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, were responsible.

The 2,000-strong ELN regularly attacks oil infrastructure.

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First time in a decade global oil demand expected to drop

LONDON (Bloomberg) - Global oil demand will drop this quarter for the first time in over a decade as the coronavirus batters China’s economy, the International Energy Agency said.

The new estimates show that oil markets face a significant surplus despite the latest production cuts by OPEC and its partners. Crude already sank to a one-year low below $50 a barrel last week and the impact of the epidemic will be felt throughout the year, the agency said.

“Demand has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus and the widespread shutdown of China’s economy,” the Paris-based IEA said. “The crisis is ongoing and at this stage it is hard to be precise about the impact.”

World fuel consumption -- which had previously been expected to grow by 800,000 barrels a day during the three-month period, compared with a year earlier -- will instead contract by 435,000 a day, the IEA said in its monthly oil market report.

For 2020 as a whole, the virus will curb annual growth in global consumption by about 30% to 825,000 barrels a day, the lowest since 2011. The effects will be more significant than those of the 2003 SARS epidemic because of China’s increased importance and integration within the world economy.

The outbreak has shuttered businesses and prompted the quarantine of tens of millions of people in China, the world’s biggest crude importer. The country accounted for about 75% of last year’s oil-demand growth, according to the IEA, which advises most major economies.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration also cut its demand outlook due to the virus. The EIA lowered its first quarter global petroleum and liquids consumption forecast by 880,000 barrels a day.

U.S. crude futures have fallen 17% this year as traders assessed the impact of the epidemic. Consumers are unlikely to benefit from the drop in fuel prices because the disease will inflict damage on the wider economy, the IEA said.

The outbreak has prompted Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, to push its allies in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and beyond to consider an emergency meeting and further production cuts. However, Russia, the kingdom’s most important partner in managing supplies, has so far resisted the initiative.

Even though the group launched new supply curbs at the start of this year, the slump in demand threatens markets with a surplus of about 1.7 million barrels a day during the first quarter and 560,000 in the second. Last month, OPEC was already pumping the least crude since the financial crisis of 2009, according to the IEA.

The OPEC+ alliance had already faced an oversupply in the first half of 2020 because of the ongoing output surge from U.S. shale-oil drillers, the agency said. That industry is likely to remain resilient against the price slump until later in the year, it predicted.

Given the abundance of supply, disruptions in OPEC members such as Libya and Nigeria are having little impact on prices, the agency said.

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Oil declines as Saudis boost output, China balks at trade truce

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Oil slid the most in two weeks after Saudi Arabia boosted crude output by more than a million barrels a day against the backdrop of renewed worldwide trade woes. Futures fell as much as 2.5% in New York on Thursday. The Saudis lifted daily production to about 9.8 MMbbl just weeks after crippling missile attacks on crucial installations, consultant JBC Energy said. That supply increase comes amid signs that Chinese officials are resisting some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s key trade demands. Canadian drillers may also add crude supplies to the market after the government loosened output caps for companies that will ship Albertan oil via railroad. “We have to keep an eye on the trade deal,” said Ashley Petersen, oil market analyst at Stratas Advisors in New York. “This is going to be a problem from the rest of the year so there’s going to be more inter-week volatility to come.” Thursday’s slump dashed what would have been crude’s first monthly gain since July. In addition to international developments such as the Saudi recovery and Chinese trade, TC Energy Corp. declared force majeure after it shut a major U.S. pipeline because of an oil spill. West Texas Intermediate for December delivery lost $1.31 to $53.75/bbl at 10:56 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for December, which expires Thursday, fell $0.48 to $60.13 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange. The global benchmark crude traded at a $6.38 premium to WTI. Chinese policy makers are gathered in Beijing for a key political meeting that’s set to conclude on Thursday. In talks ahead of that plenum, some officials have relayed low expectations that future trade negotiations could result in anything meaningful unless the U.S. is willing to roll back more tariffs. Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell Plc cast a warning for next year, with Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl saying that oil price expectations for 2020 are trending lower.

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Jemena's Atlas Gas Pipeline in Queensland Completed

Senex Energy announced Wednesday that first gas production has been achieved at Project Atlas following completion of Jemena's Atlas Gas Pipeline in Queensland, Australia.

(source: Senex Energy)

Jemena reached mechanical completion of the pipeline less than three months after construction began in July. Construction of the Project Atlas gas processing facility is ongoing, with commissioning of the facility and pipeline to begin soon, Senex said.

Senex and Jemena said they continue to achieve all stated milestones for Project Atlas, with first sales gas expected by the end of calendar 2019.

Project Atlas is the first acreage in Australia designated to supply gas to the domestic marketand will supply major Queensland manufacturers.

“Achievement of this latest milestone by Jemena supports Senex in its continuing transformation into an important supplier of natural gas to the east coast market," said Senex Managing Director and CEO Ian Davies. “Project Atlas is supporting both local construction jobs and the manufacturing industry."

The Atlas Gas Pipeline Project plays an important part in delivering Jemena’s Northern Growth Strategy, which seeks to build an interconnected supply chain of energy delivery assets in northern Australia through targeted acquisitions and greenfield developments.

Senex's Project Atlas drilling campaign commenced in August 2019, and 11 wells of the planned 60-well campaign have now been drilled and completed, the company said.  The first four wells were recently brought online and produced gas immediately, it said.

Project Atlas gas will be produced to flare prior to expected commissioning and start-up of the 15 petajoule per annum gas processing facility.

Senex said it has contracted most of its expected gas production volumes in 2020,with more contracts currently under negotiation.

“Senex was granted the petroleum lease for Project Atlas in March 2018. The delivery of a greenfield natural gas development in 18 months is an outstanding achievement, Davies said.

“The remainder of 2019 will be active and exciting as we bring more wells online, commission the gas facility and increase production to meet sales agreements commencing 1 January 2020,” Davies added.

Senex and its partners continue to meet all development milestones for the Project Atlas and Roma North work programs. These will deliver a Surat Basin gas production rate of 18 petajoules per annum by the end of FY21, with low cost expansion options, the company said.

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