Malaysia’s Petronas revealed on Thursday that it has made two significant gas discoveries off the west coast of Sabah state in Sarawak.
“Too bad they did not find this last week,” an industry wag said, ”then they may not have needed to buy LNG from Qatar.”
The unthinkable had indeed happened on Monday. Middle East heavyweight Qatargas pencilled in a 20-year deal to sell 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG to long-standing producer Petronas’ trading arm from 2013.
Malaysia, which plans to open a Malacca-based import terminal by mid-2012, is not the first of the world’s established producers to go down the imports route. Indonesia has already taken that tack with some of its production on the wane.
In Malaysia’s case, however, regional experts reckon it makes sense for Qatari cargoes to feed demand centres on the west coast. The country can then continue exports from its east coast liquefaction plant while hoping to cash in on the foreign exchange differences with the imported volumes.
Some even pondered whether there might be some kind of cargo swap element. Whatever the terms, the diversification of LNG trades continues.Note that this week a cargo from Peru arrived in Thailand.
Producers turning importers just adds yet another twist to the mix.
