202 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Mongolia in a day.

82 of them were contacts in Ulaanbaatar, and 120 were registered in the regions. No imported cases were found.

The death toll from coronavirus remained 2,134.

The copper price bounced on Tuesday after four sessions of losses as the dollar weakened.

Copper for delivery in December rose 2.5% on the Comex market in New York, touching $3.66 per pound ($8,052 per tonne).

“The dollar is soft, yields are lower and that’s supporting the general level of risk appetite in the market,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

Copper retreated in recent days driven by worries about possible pandemic-related shutdowns in China.

China’s capital Beijing shut parks and museums on Tuesday and imposed new testing requirements to enter public places such as malls and hotels as covid-19 cases climbed.

“The market seems to be taking the view that the Chinese outbreak is a temporary one, but one that could last longer than expected, so that’s keeping a lid on any exuberance,” Hansen added.

“A surge in cases during winter will likely test the resolve of officials. Fears of supply disruptions also eased after BHP averted a strike at its Escondida copper mine in Chile,” ANZ Research said in a note.

On the supply side, BHP said on Monday it reached an agreement with a worker’s union to avoid a strike planned at Escondida – the world’s largest copper mine.

(With files from Reuters)

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Ministry of Economy and Development of Mongolia jointly organized the “Socio-Economic Impact of Global Crises in Mongolia” seminar at Novotel Hotel on November 21, 2022.

It was raised during the seminar that the global shocks to commodity prices, food, energy, and financial markets are making Mongolians more vulnerable, especially at a time when the country is all set to mobilize its New Revival Policy.

The geopolitical issue involving Russia and Ukraine, according to the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mongolia, Tapan Mishra, has a severe impact on Mongolia's economy by driving up the cost of food and consumer products. The availability of goods such as bread, vegetable oil, and gas has an impact on vulnerable populations, particularly single women and families with three or more children, in addition to price increases

The proposed analysis complements this analysis by providing comprehensive information on Small and medium-sized enterprises, households, and livelihoods of vulnerable populations. The findings and recommendations aim to feed into the policy interventions by the Government of Mongolia for developing an integrated strategic response.

Sodontogos Erdenetsogt was appointed as the Director-General of MONTSAME News Agency according to the order of the Chief of the Office of the President.

E. Sodontogos holds Bachelor’s degrees from the Foreign Language University (University of Humanities) in English/Russian translation and Banking and Loan Economics from the Institute of Finance and Economics respectively. She completed her Master’s Degree at the School of Pan-Pacific International Studies of Kyung Hee University in the Republic of Korea, specializing in International Political Economy.

She started her career as a translator at the United Nations Populations Fund and the United States Agency for International Development. She served as an attaché at the Department of Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an Expert at the National Security Council of Mongolia. At the Office of the President of Mongolia, she led the Office of the Advisors to the President of Mongolia with the key function of organizing and managing the day-to-day work of presidential policy advisors from 2009. Prior to her selection and appointment as the CEO of MCA-Mongolia, she led the National Secretariat for the Development of the Second Compact Agreement from 2015-2019. She has 30 years of experience in the international development and cooperation field.

E. Sodontogos is one of the founding members of the “Discover Mongolia” International Mining Investors Forum. She co-founded the “Mongolian Mining Journal” magazine, the first Mongolian bilingual trade journal. Upon invitation by the Mongolian National Broadcaster, she hosted a talk show in English, “Face to Face.”

QatarEnergy has signed a 27-year deal to supply China’s Sinopec with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the longest such agreement to date, as volatility drives buyers to seek long-term supplies.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, competition for LNG has become intense, with Europe, in particular, needing vast amounts to help replace Russian pipeline gas that used to make up almost 40 percent of the continent’s imports.

European companies looking to buy LNG needed to look at how Asian buyers were approaching their own negotiations and were willing to lock into long-term deals, QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi told the Reuters news agency shortly before signing the Sinopec deal.

“Today is an important milestone for the first sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for North Field East project, it is 4 million tonnes for 27 years to Sinopec of China,” al-Kaabi said.

“It signifies long-term deals are here and important for both seller and buyer,” he said in an interview in Doha, adding that the deal was the LNG sector’s largest single sales and purchase agreement on record.

The North Field is part of the world’s biggest gas field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its share South Pars.

QatarEnergy earlier this year signed five deals for North Field East (NFE), the first and larger of the two-phase North Field expansion plan, which includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027 from 77 million.

It later signed contracts with three partners for North Field South (NFS), the second phase of the expansion.

Monday’s deal, confirmed by Sinopec, is the first supply deal to be announced for NFE.

“This takes our relationship to new heights as we have an SPA that will last into the 2050s,” al-Kaabi said.

“It sends a message that a lot of Asian buyers are actually approaching us to have a long-term deal because they see the volumes of gas that are coming in the future are less and less.”

Qatar is already the world’s top LNG exporter, and its North Field expansion project will boost that position and help guarantee long-term supplies of gas to Europe as the continent seeks alternatives to Russian flows.

“The recent volatility has driven buyers to understand the importance of having long-term supply that is fixed and that’s reasonably priced for the long term,” al-Kaabi said.

“There aren’t many projects that are taking final investment decision and the next two big chunks of LNG capacity that are coming into the market is Golden Pass LNG that we partnered with ExxonMobil in Texas and the next big chunk if you will is North Field East and North Field South.”

al-Kaabi also said there was more realisation globally that gas should be an essential part of any energy transition.

“The wind doesn’t blow all the time and the sun doesn’t shine all the time,” he said, adding that Qatari LNG is “a solution that has the least carbon intensity”.

The pricing of the Sinopec deal will be similar to others in the past that were linked to crude oil.

“The way we’re pricing our deals with Asia is crude linked. We’ve done it this way in the past and that’s the mechanism we’re using going forward.”

The deal was signed on an ex-ship basis, meaning QatarEnergy will provide the shipping and delivery of the LNG.

al-Kaabi added negotiations for an equity stake in the Gulf country’s expansion project were ongoing with several entities.

The supply contract is a key component for an integrated partnership in the NFE, Sinopec said in a statement, indicating it could be involved in stake negotiations.

QatarEnergy has maintained a 75 percent stake overall in the expansion and could give up to a 5 percent stake from its holding to some buyers, al-Kaabi said.

“Important buyers that want to commit for the long term on a substantial volume want to see part of the benefits of the upstream business … so I think it’s an important win if you will and it makes the partnership even more solid.”

SOURCE: REUTERS

Mongolia registered 176 new COVID-19 cases for the past day.

82 of them were contacts in Ulaanbaatar, and 94 were recorded in the regions. No imported cases were found.

The total number of coronavirus related deaths is 2,134.

Famous Mongolian actress O.Dulguun is appointed as the ambassador of the Busan Medi Tour.

On Monday (22 November) Busan Metropolitan City announced that O.Dulguun ws appointed as the ambassador of the Busan Medi Tour at the Busan City Hall.

She has been active in Mongolian films, plays, and television shows, and this year, she starred in the play “Dynasty Without the Royal Seal” (literal translation) and the movie “Mr. Lady.”

She plans to introduce five medical institutions in Busan and representative tourist attractions in Busan through her social media (SNS).

She has 640,000 and 650,000 followers, respectively, on Facebook and Instagram.

A climate fund founded by Bill Gates is investing in technology that uses surges of electricity to shatter rocks and mineral ores in a bid to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions at mines.

A European fund tied to Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures invested €12 million ($12.3 million) in the I-ROX pulsed-power venture with Robert Friedland’s I-Pulse Inc.

The technology is based on short, high-intensity bursts of power to streamline crushing and grinding processes that today make up the most energy-intensive and expensive part of mining.

That would help producers of metals like copper and nickel achieve carbon-reduction targets, thereby boosting industry efforts to gain acceptance for expansions to meet growing demand in the transition away from fossil fuels.

(By James Attwood)

President of Mongolia U. Khurelsukh will pay a state visit to the People’s Republic of China on November 27-28 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The Mongolian president will meet with his Chinese counterpart for official talks over the course of his two-day visit, during which they will also exchange views on matters pertaining to bilateral ties and cooperation.

Moreover, the heads of state of the two nations will issue a joint statement regarding the development of the Mongolia-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and sign cooperation agreements.

TMK Energy has completed the acquisition of 2D seismic across discovered coal deposits in the northern and southern regions of its Gurvantes XXXV coal seam gas project in Mongolia.

The two 10km 2D seismic lines will help with the mapping of coal seams exposed at shallow depth within highly prospective areas outside the 1.2Tcf best estimate Contingent Resource defined by the successful 2022 exploration drill program.

Design, engineering work and tendering for TMK Energy’s (ASX:TMK) key pilot well program is also nearing completion.

“Following the outstanding results achieved to date and the delivery of an initial 1.2TCF in contingent resources from the 2022 exploration drilling program, we are already planning for the 2023 exploration program with the completion of this small but targeted seismic acquisition,” chief executive officer Brendan Stat said.

“This new seismic data will help us refine our future drilling locations targeting the already significant prospective resources already independently assessed by NSAI.

“Our immediate focus is the finalisation of the engineering, design and tendering for the pilot well program which we expect to commence in early 2023 and is designed to demonstrate our proof of concept by flowing gas to surface at commercial rates.

“The 2023 exploration drilling program, to be completed in parallel with the initial pilot well program, aims to continue to demonstrate the vast potential and scale of the Gurvantes XXV Project.”

Seismic acquisition

The seismic lines are aimed at defining future exploration locations to further de-risk the broader undiscovered 2U Prospective Resource of 5.96Tcf.

The first 10km 2D seismic line was acquired across the Noyon Syncline field in the north of the Gurvantes XXXV Project area, where coal units have been mapped on both the north and south limbs of a broad syncline striking east-west for over 80km.

The second 10km 2D seismic line was acquired in the Khukhuzokh field targeting coal units exposed at surface, which is interpreted to be an extension of coal units from the Nariin Sukhiat field that was the focus of this year’s successful drilling program.

Pilot well program

TMK’s planned pilot well program will consist of three production wells drilled in close proximity to the Snow Leopard-02 (SL-02) well, which returned spectacular results.

Subject to partner Talon Energy exercising its option to proceed to Stage 2 of its farm-in agreement, the pilot program will be primarily funded by Talon.

Drilling is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023.