World Gas Intelligence articles from April 2007

World Gas Intelligence archives from April 2007

Russia, China plot thickens.
April 4, 2007... An environmental showdown is casting doubt on the viability of plans to route a gas pipeline from West Siberia to China through the Altai Mountains between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. This could provide an opening for Gazprom to resuscitate the...

Cove Point shutting for month of June.
April 4, 2007... Dominion's LNG receiving terminal at Cove Point, Maryland, will be down for the entire month of June this year for maintenance connected to the Phase 2 expansion of the 1 billion cubic foot per day (7.5 million ton per year) facility, slated...

US pitching for Nabucco--minus Iran.
April 4, 2007... Europe has found a willing and powerful ally in the US as it looks to diversify its sources of energy and loosen its dependence on gas supplied by Russian state Gazprom. Under the slogan "competition not confrontation," Washington has...

E.On's consolation prize splits Endesa.
April 4, 2007... The peace pact agreed to Monday by E.On with rival bidders for Spanish electricity group Endesa may leave the big German utility without the major Spanish presence it sought. But the [euro]10 billion ($13.4 billion) consolation prize that it...

US took much more LNG last quarter.
April 4, 2007... Coming after one of the weakest years in recent memory for US LNG imports, 2007 has already charted a sharp turnaround, with imports reaching record highs of 184 billion cubic feet (3.8 million tons, or 2.15 billion cubic feet per day) in the...

Sonatrach forays.
April 4, 2007... Algerian state Sonatrach this week acquired an equity stake of 2.039% in Portuguese state power group Energias de Portugal (EDP), while also lining itself up to supply spot cargoes to two LNG ports for onboard regasification vessels that...

Eni in Angola LNG.
April 4, 2007... In a surprise move, Italy's Eni has revealed that it intends to take a 13.6% stake in the Angola LNG (ALNG) project--just weeks after Exxon Mobil agreed to hand back a stake of the same size to state Sonangol. Key questions include whether...

Market insight: US ends winter up.(INSIGHT)
April 4, 2007... What started out as a rather dull month for the North American gas markets ended in a flurry of bullish activity as the April contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) moved toward expiry. The buying spree was mostly technical in...

Gas shortages push North Africa toward other generation.(CURRENT)
April 4, 2007... While gas-fired power plants still dominate planned new generation capacity in Egypt, Algeria and Libya, pressure to meet growing electricity demand--although not as intense as in the Mideast Gulf--has North Africa's governments, including...

US LNG terminals get more than ample pipeline support.(HORIZON)
April 4, 2007... Plans are proceeding apace to provide the pipeline and other infrastructure needed to transfer ever larger volumes of regasified LNG from new and expanded receiving terminals into the enormous US pipeline grid. Every greenfield and expansion...

Big gas exporters agenda.
April 11, 2007... Ministers from the world's top gas producers attending the Gas Exporting Countries' Forum (GECF) in Qatar this week spent much of their public time downplaying the idea that the group could control the price of gas any time soon, or was seeking...

Total's de Margerie on Shtokman, Pars LNG.
April 11, 2007... Russia's giant Shtokman field in the Barents Sea is still a development in which French company Total is very much interested, despite Gazprom's decision to take charge of the project itself and use the gas first for pipeline export rather than...

Hoegh LNG eyeing regas ships, terminals.
April 11, 2007... Hoegh LNG, a division of Norway's Leif Hoegh, last week announced plans to develop a receiving terminal offshore Florida called Port Dolphin. The move is part of the company's greater strategy to go beyond its traditional business of leasing...

Myanmar wants China pipe, partners don't.
April 11, 2007... With the mid-2007 target date for a development decision on gas from Myanmar's offshore Blocks A-1 and A-3 fast approaching, the Myanmar government is flipping in favor of a pipeline to China, instead of a pipeline to India or the LNG that it...

Gazprom progress in majors campaign.
April 11, 2007... Gazprom's campaign to work out new relationships with the international majors that put it in the driver's seat is progressing nicely, with Eni and its Italian partner Enel now firmly on board--easing previously tense energy relations between...

Gas output, LNG both up in Mexico.
April 11, 2007... While Mexico wrestles with a steeper-than-expected decline at its giant offshore Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, gas production is maintaining a bullish pace. Mexican gas output averaged 5.811 billion cubic feet (165 million...

Algeria LNG slips.
April 11, 2007... Don't look for any new LNG out of Algeria before 2011 at the earliest. Completion of the 4.5 million ton per year Gassi Touil LNG venture has been delayed to 2011 from 2009, and project developers Spain's Repsol YPF and Gas Natural (GN)...

Indonesia LNG buy.
April 11, 2007... Indonesia's Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) plans to build Indonesia's first LNG receiving terminal in Situbondo, East Java. It would take 1.5 million-3 million tons per year of domestic supply from BP's Tangguh project, the proposed Donggi LNG...

Market insight: Qatari price ambitions.(INSIGHT)
April 11, 2007... Talks by state Qatar Petroleum (QP) on diverting to Japan supply originally intended for Europe and the US have stalled due to disagreements over pricing, a Japanese trade ministry source confirmed to WGI. Closing the large gap in views on...

Coal losing cost advantage over gas in greener world.(CURRENT)
April 11, 2007... In the US, as in many other countries, coal has long been considered a cheap baseload fuel for power generation. With concern about greenhouse gas emissions growing, however, this vaulted position has never been shakier. Already, the cost of...

How best to deal with LNG tankers in their old age?(HORIZON)
April 11, 2007... How long an LNG tanker can continually operate at the highest safety and operational levels is an issue of growing importance in an industry with as hallowed a safety-record as LNG. The first few generations of LNG ships have now been running...

California's fading LNG appeal.
April 18, 2007... BHP Billiton's Cabrillo Port LNG project offshore Southern California was dealt a serious blow last week when two California state commissions voted against a license for it on environmental grounds. While rival Woodside's nearby Oceanway...

Gazprom's other issues in Athens.
April 18, 2007... Talks during an official visit by Alexei Miller, head of Russian Gazprom, to Greece last week focused mainly--but not exclusively--on extending to 2040 a Greek contract to import some 2.8 billion cubic meters per year (270 million cubic feet...

India takes spot supply from Europe.
April 18, 2007... India's Petronet LNG looks set to relieve Europe of an LNG supply glut that has already overflowed into now brimming US receiving terminals. The Indian importer is in advanced talks for up to 1.8 million tons per year in spot supply to come...

China's gas output rising on all fronts.
April 18, 2007... While China remains eager to secure gas for its burgeoning economy, the country can afford to haggle with suppliers and even resist higher prices on occasion--as Sinopec did last week in declaring that it is not keen on expensive LNG from...

Modest Gazprom goal.
April 18, 2007... The modest state of Gazprom's upstream growth ambitions--and its willingness to lean on other Russian producers and Caspian exporters to meet its supply obligations--are apparent in a draft long-term planning document prepared by the company...

North American drill.
April 18, 2007... North American gas producers may be drilling more, but they are finding less on average in each well--suggesting that the continent's thirst for imports is here to stay. Overall, US gas production climbed at some rate between slightly and...

Distrigas concessions.
April 18, 2007... Belgian gas incumbent Distrigas has offered to loosen its grip on the country's gas market. The European Commission voiced concern almost a year ago that Belgium's gas market development might be stunted due to Distrigas' long-term supply...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 18, 2007... WGI in its Apr. 4 issue misstated Eni's equity holdings in two Angolan oil blocks: Eni in fact has a 20% stake in Blocks 14 and 15, and a 9.8% stake in Block 0. For a corrected version see (WGI Apr.4,p5).

Sinopec, NIOC LNG price haggling.
April 18, 2007... Sinopec Chairman Chen Tonghai last week announced that his company is no longer interested in buying Iranian LNG because it can "not afford" the high prices being demanded by Tehran (p3). Although Sinopec officials have been insisting for...

Market insight: euro liquidity lag.(INSIGHT)
April 18, 2007... It's a measure of the painfully slow growth in liquidity in mainland European gas trading that only this spring--two years after Amsterdam-based APX launched the first gas exchanges for the already active spot Belgian Zeebrugge and Dutch TTF...

Gazprom sets eyes on major power and coal businesses.(CURRENT)
April 18, 2007... The potentially huge scope of state Gazprom's move into Russian power generation has become clear with approval by the company's board of directors earlier this month of a corporate strategic plan for the electricity sector which, according to...

Northwest Europe grids adapt to more open environment.(HORIZON)
April 18, 2007... The proliferation of LNG import projects along the Northwest European coast will likely be matched by grid and interconnector expansions that have the potential to significantly enhance cross-border gas trade in this part of continental Europe,...

Algeria's Khelil talks tough.
April 25, 2007... Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil continues to take a tough line on completion of the vertically integrated Gassi Touil LNG project under development by Spain's Repsol YPF and Gas Natural (GN). He also says that three bids for a...

Australia's Browse LNG hits obstacles.
April 25, 2007... Environmental approvals nearly derailed Chevron's Gorgon LNG scheme offshore Australia, and Woodside Petroleum now fears regulators will create major problems for its Browse LNG project. Browse is the largest and most complex of Woodside's...

OMV seeking Iranian LNG? Or pipe gas?
April 25, 2007... Austria's OMV on Apr. 21 signed a heads of agreement (HOA) with the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) to participate in developing Phase 12 at South Pars, a liquefaction plant and an LNG offtake agreement. All details--including OMV's equity...

One step forward, two back in Bolivia.
April 25, 2007... After much delay, Bolivia's Congress last week ratified 44 gas contracts that the government renegotiated last October with private operators. But news of the once anxiously awaited approval was eclipsed by bloody demonstrations that briefly...

Trend moves toward liquefying everything.
April 25, 2007... Coal and natural gas have been the traditional feedstocks for the Fischer-Tropsch process that converts such hydrocarbons into ultra-clean diesel and other middle distillates, but Royal Dutch Shell is looking at biomass as a potential feedstock...

Down on gas Opec.
April 25, 2007... Mohamed Hassan Marican, chief executive of Malaysian state Petronas, has taken a surprisingly robust line in opposition to any-gas Opec" that might eventually result from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum held earlier this month in Doha. ...

Shell in French LNG.
April 25, 2007... Royal Dutch Shell looks to be moving toward a virtually Europe-wide network of LNG receiving capacity. Most recently, the company has thrown its hat into the ring for developing a new LNG receiving terminal in southern France. It has agreed...

More regas vessels.
April 25, 2007... Onboard regasification--in various technical configurations--continues to gain adherence. Golar LNG has won a tender by Brazil's Petrobras for two floating regasification and storage vessels, one to be located offshore Rio de Janeiro and...

Qatar, Marubeni LNG diversion deal.
April 25, 2007... The heads of agreement that Japanese trader Marubeni has signed to buy up to 1 million tons per year of LNG from state Qatar Petroleum's (QP) Qatargas-4 project is related to earlier talks between Qatar and Japan to divert to Japan cargoes...

Market insight: LNG glut goes on.(INSIGHT)
April 25, 2007... The global LNG spot market remains tilted firmly westward due to a dearth of Asian and European demand (WGI Mar.28,p6). While Japan has taken the occasional spot cargo, Northwest European netbacks are so low and southern European incremental...

Hydropower looking ample for summer across Europe.(CURRENT)
April 25, 2007... Relatively wet spring weather has helped boost European hydropower reserves, with reservoirs in both northern and southern Europe currently above seasonal levels for the last few years of drought. This should bode well for power supplies moving...

Iran sets different price benchmarks for different places.(HORIZON)
April 25, 2007... Gone is the time when Iran felt compelled to link LNG sales deals to upstream oil agreements, and a scarcity of buyers led Tehran to sell gas for as little as 75 cents per million Btu to UAE-based Crescent Petroleum (WGI Jun.18'03,p3). Iran...