World Gas Intelligence articles from February 2004

World Gas Intelligence archives from February 2004

Fueling India's IT boom.
February 4, 2004... Prospects look increasingly good for the Bidadi project to supply gas-fired electricity to the computers of Bangalore, India's leading information-technology center and capital of the South Indian state of Karnataka. After seven tortuous...

Outlook brightens for Venezuelan LNG.
February 4, 2004... While Venezuela made little headway on its gas development strategy in 2003, this year looks more promising--at least when it comes to the long illusive LNG project now known as Mariscal Sucre and to domestic market development. Signs of...

US LNG terminal plans start to thin out.
February 4, 2004... The number of proposed North American LNG receiving terminals is starting to shrink almost as fast as it was growing just a few months ago. In the past week, Exxon Mobil confirmed that it is no longer pursuing efforts to develop a facility near...

Comfortable Korea looks to next winter.
February 4, 2004... Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) still looks well supplied for this winter and has no plans to buy additional spot LNG cargoes. However, the company does intend to take all that it has already signed up for through March, and it is now evaluating the...

LNG projects fight for hot Florida market.
February 4, 2004... South Florida is tipped as the next hot target for LNG imports into the US, but even here, there may be room for only two of three similar projects (p2). Suez unit Tractebel, El Paso and AES are all proposing to regasify LNG in the Bahamas and...

Dutch eye price cap.
February 4, 2004... A majority in the Dutch parliament is keen to cap gas and electricity prices for retail consumers once they get the freedom to pick their own provider on Jul. 1, 2004. The governing Christian Democratic Party this week said that it wants...

Gazprom Kovykta ploy.
February 4, 2004... Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller has slammed proposals to develop Russia's giant Kovykta gas field in East Siberia, in an apparent attempt to strengthen the company's hand in negotiations over its entry into the project. Miller met...

UK terminal debate.
February 4, 2004... A request from Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Exxon Mobil to UK energy regulator Ofgem for exemption of their huge Milford Haven LNG import terminal from European Union third-party access requirements has spurred leading UK midstream gas supplier...

Algeria's export pipes full, but expanding.
February 4, 2004... In the wake of the explosion that destroyed half of Algeria's Skikda LNG complex on Jan. 19, state Sonatrach has expressed confidence that Skikda's Spanish and Italian importers--namely Gas Natural and Eni--can be compensated by ramping up the...

Market insight: US winter wilt.(Insight)
February 4, 2004... After the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported another anemic withdrawal from storage last week in the still frigid Eastern US, concerns that working gas will be seriously depleted by winter's end began to melt away, in...

Europe still facing too little--or too much--hydropower.(Current)
February 4, 2004... Often overlooked and sometimes derided for its impact on the environment, hydropower is the oldest and still most prevalent form of renewable energy in Europe--accounting for around 7% of power production in Western Europe in 2000, versus 4%...

The changing face of fuel switching in the US Northeast.(Horizon)
February 4, 2004... At first, the January spike in spot gas prices in the US Northeast appeared to generate very little fuel switching, judging by weak regional demand for the traditional substitute, residual fuel oil, or even the standard middle distillate grade...

Eastern Canada and LNG.
February 11, 2004... The long-term viability of gas production off the East Coast of Canada has been called into question by another round of reserve write-downs in the Sable Island Offshore Energy Project--adding urgency to LNG projects seeking a toehold in the US...

Shell signs Pipeline deal with India's Gail.
February 11, 2004... Royal Dutch/Shell has signed an initial pipeline shipping agreement with Gail India for regasified LNG from the receiving terminal that Shell has under construction in Hazira, in Gujarat on India's West Coast (p6). At the Asia Gas Buyers...

US Pacific Northwest eyes LNG imports.
February 11, 2004... The hydropower producing US Pacific Northwest hasn't usually been seen as prime turf for LNG development. But with population and economic growth outpacing generation capacity and hydro development prospects largely used up, this is starting to...

Skikda revenue impact.
February 11, 2004... Algerian Finance Minister Adellatif Benachenhou told journalists this week that revenue losses from the Jan. 19 blast that destroyed three liquefaction units at the Skikda LNG complex will reach an estimated $300 million this year (WGI Jan.28,...

Mexico's stubborn thirst for US gas.
February 11, 2004... Mexican politicians and bureaucrats worry that high energy costs are contributing to the steady loss of low-end manufacturing jobs to China and other developing nations. And with good cause. By 2012, Mexico's gas deficit could grow to as...

Spanish market still growing rapidly.
February 11, 2004... Spain's gas consumption increased by 13.3% last year, "confirming the high growth rate of the Spanish gas market and the speed of liberalization," according to Enagas, regulated operator of Spain's national gas grid, two storage facilities, and...

BEB sales boost.
February 11, 2004... Germany's second largest gas supplier, Exxon Mobil- and Royal Dutch/Shell-owned BEB, boosted sales in 2003 by 4% to a new record of 18 billion cubic meters (190 terawatt hours). Last winter was Germany's coldest for seven years, and many German...

East Siberian scheme.
February 11, 2004... In a bid to exert control over potential gas production and exports from untapped fields in East Siberia, Russia's Gazprom on Tuesday sealed a gas-sector cooperation agreement with the Irkutsk regional administration. The five-year accord,...

Eni in Iberia.
February 11, 2004... Eni has ended ten months of wrangling over its stake in Galpenergia, striking a preliminary deal with the Portuguese government that would strength the Italian company's position in the Portuguese gas sector, while removing it from the...

Market insight: India's price conundrum.(Insight)
February 11, 2004... Even as India's oil minister this week formally inaugurated the country's first LNG receiving terminal, at Dahej in Gujarat, uncertainty continued to cloud the demand side of the equation. Just in time for Monday's inauguration of the...

Prospects for private nuclear power fade in UK.(Current)
February 11, 2004... Ailing nuclear generator British Energy found itself in the dock again last week, alter a government watchdog said that the company's own policies were largely to blame for its slide into insolvency. The National Audit Office also criticized...

Progress seen at last at Iran's South Pars--LNG in sight.(Horizon)
February 11, 2004... While talks on developing major Iranian oil fields such as Azadegan and Ahwaz Bangestan remain stubbomly stuck, plans to develop the giant South Pars gas field--for both domestic consumption and for export--appear finally to be gaining...

Tangguh set to go.
February 18, 2004... BP definitely intends to proceed with the Tangguh LNG export project in Indonesia, and the absence of the expected final investment decision relates mainly to design and financing issues, not uncertainty on this fundamental point, company...

Libya at last gets serious about gas.
February 18, 2004... After years of lagging its North African neighbors Egypt and Algeria while it focused on keeping oil output up in the face of international sanctions, Libya is paying attention to gas. If all goes well, the result could be more pipeline exports...

BP, Shell talk LNG market strategies.
February 18, 2004... BP and Royal Dutch/Shell are not only Big Oil, they are Big Gas, with the aim of becoming bigger in gas especially in North America, using LNG as the growth vehicle. Not that either is small now. Currently, BP is the largest gas...

Statoil ambitions grow in US and at home.
February 18, 2004... Norway's Statoil could more than quadruple its 250 million cubic feet per day (1.8 million tons per year) of capacity at Cove Point, Maryland, by end-2008, if a letter of intent signed with the US terminal's owner Dominion last week leads to a...

Irkutsk offers Kovykta stake, Gazprom looms.
February 18, 2004... The Kovykta dance continues, with Russian state-controlled Gazprom edging ever closer to participation in development of the giant field, even as field operator TNK-BP edges closer to a launch of development work aimed initially at the nearby...

Egypt's emerging gas marketer: Egas.
February 18, 2004... With several projects now on the boil, state Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (Egas), established in late 2001, is emerging as a gas seller in its own right. Currently, Egas is party to efforts to export gas by pipeline to Egypt's Arab...

Gassi Touil delays.
February 18, 2004... As Algerian state Sonatrach hurries to restart production at its damaged Skikda LNG complex by end-February or early March, progress at the country's $2 billion Gassi Touil integrated gas project--launched in May 2002--looks set to be a long...

UK terminal progress.
February 18, 2004... Netherlands-based refiner Petroplus said last week that talks are progressing well on the sale of 80% of the equity in its Milford Haven UK LNG import terminal project in west Wales to partners BG Group and Malaysian state Petronas. The Dutch...

IPE gas futures.(Insight)
February 18, 2004... IPE GAS FUTURES Contract Feb. 16 Week's Feb. 16 Month p/therm High/Low $/MMBtu Mar. '04 21.59 21.70/20.90 4.11 Apr. 20.00 20.00/19.40 3.81 May 18.65 18.70/18.15 3.55...

Nymex gas futures.(Insight)
February 18, 2004... NYMEX GAS FUTURES Contract Feb. 13 ([dagger]) Week's Feb. 9 Month $/MMBtu High/Low $/MMBtu Mar. '04 5.536 5.63/5.16 5.349 Apr. 5.437 ...

Market insight: Dutch competition.(Insight)
February 18, 2004... The Dutch government appears to have quietly declared victory in efforts to inject competition into large and mid-sized markets, even as it launches a high-profile campaign to insure similar success in the small-user market, where reliance on a...

European border prices estimates.
February 18, 2004... EUROPEAN BORDER PRICES ESTIMATES Prices Effective Feb. '04 (US$ per Million Btu) Algeria Algeria From/To: CIS...

Power generation opening up--slowly, fitfully--in Asia.(Current)
February 18, 2004... The governments of Asia are moving--fitfully--toward open electricity markets through the formulation of policies designed to encourage competition in the sector, in hopes that investors will bring needed financing. Yet foreign investment is...

Atlantic exporters spawn new approach to LNG shipping.(Horizon)
February 18, 2004... Shipping has always been a tricky issue for LNG export projects. Should sales be on a delivered basis, with ships owned by the venture itself? Should transportation be left to the customer? Or could there be a third, more flexible approach? ...

Gazprom image at risk.
February 25, 2004... Russia's Gazprom quickly resumed "full volume" gas flows to and through Belarus after a cut-off on Feb. 18 and 19 that affected transit shipments as well as local supplies. Western European gas consumers experienced no difficulties with gas...

Equatorial Guinea LNG financing delays.
February 25, 2004... Marathon's planned $1 billion plus LNG project in Equatorial Guinea could be in for turmoil and delay, as the government abruptly changed financing plans shortly before its $400 million five-year loan package was due for syndication. The...

Peru, Bolivia jostle for LNG markets.
February 25, 2004... LNG strategies along Latin America's Pacific Coast flip-flopped this month, when Repsol YPF narrowly won a tender to build an LNG terminal in the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas. The award momentarily sidelines Suez subsidiary Tractebel's plan...

Exxon, QP clear UK hurdle, face another.
February 25, 2004... Exxon Mobil and state Qatar Petroleum (QP) received welcome news from UK energy market regulator Ofgem on their proposal to build the world's largest LNG import terminal at South Hook, Milford Haven, in west Wales, at an estimated cost of...

Total after stakes in Asia, US terminals.
February 25, 2004... French Total is hoping to line up stakes in two LNG receiving terminals over the next two or three months, one on the US Gulf of Mexico and one in Asia, as it strives to counter suggestions that its LNG operations lack direction (WGI...

Russia's North Europe gas pipeline moves.
February 25, 2004... Russia's Gazprom is pressing ahead in an increasingly convincing manner with its ambitious project to obtain direct access to Western Europe's gas transportation system via a pipeline under the Baltic to Germany, bypassing all former Soviet...

Italian LNG access.
February 25, 2004... A decision due from Italy's energy regulator by early April could have a significant impact on the near-term ability of newcomers to bring gas into that market as LNG. The regulator last Monday launched an inquiry into Eni's refusal to grant...

Indian Petronet's price guarantee.
February 25, 2004... Qatar's RasGas has provided a "comfort letter" to India's state-controlled Petronet LNG stating that it is willing to reconsider the pricing formula for LNG it sells to the importing consortium if end-users in India get better prices from other...

Market insight: spring LNG outlooker.(Insight)
February 25, 2004... Toward the end of the winter period in which the US traditionally receives scant LNG supply, the Lake Charles, Louisiana, terminal is, indeed, experiencing a supply crunch. However, no similar problem is afflicting the other three US receiving...

Bumper years behind, ahead for European power firms.(Current)
February 25, 2004... Europe's power companies have, for the most part, enjoyed a highly profitable 2003 and look set for a bumper 2004. Higher electricity prices across Europe have been the main driver of improved earnings. After some consolidation in 2003, the...

Pacific Basin LNG exporters eye unstable shipping climate.(Horizon)
February 25, 2004... Just as the dynamism and prospective size of Atlantic Basin LNG markets are fostering more innovative approaches to LNG shipping on that side of the world, Pacific Basin suppliers are facing altered market realities--and developing new...