Yemen LNG Says Sees Full Gas Production in Six Months

Yemen LNG Says Sees Full Gas Production in Six Months

SEOUL- Feb 24, 2011- Yemen LNG, a Total-led liquefied natural gas (LNG) operation in the Middle East nation, said on Thursday its output would reach full capacity in the next six months and allow for more shipments to key buyer South Korea.

Jean-Pierre Cave, commercial and shipping manager at Yemen LNG, said at a LNG seminar held in Seoul on Thursday that it would ship its 100th cargo in late March and does not expect recent protests in the country to affect its production plans.

"We see no disruption in gas production, and actually we see an increase as our full-capacity operation will be reached in the next six months or so," he said on the sidelines of the seminar.

Cave said Yemen LNG is currently at 95 percent of capacity.

The $4.5 billion Yemen LNG project has two production trains with a combined capacity of 6.7 million tonnes per year and is the largest-ever industrial project in the country, a small non-OPEC oil producer that pumps around 290,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

A combined of 20 percent stake is owned by three Korean firms including state-run Korea Gas Corp. South Korea is the world's No.2 LNG buyer after Japan.

Overall Yemen LNG sales to Asia in 2011 should rise to 57 cargoes from 43 cargoes last year with 44 going to South Korea, Cave said.

He said Yemen LNG supplied 5.6 percent of South Korea's LNG imports in 2010 under a mixture of long-term and mid-term deals.

"This (5.6-percent) share could grow up to 10 percent from 2011 onwards...Pricing is set until 2014, capped well below current market prices," he said, referring to long-term contracts with Korean buyers mostly KOGAS, the world's No.1 corporate buyer of LNG and the country's sole wholesaler.

Source: (Reuters)