World Gas Intelligence articles from February 2007

World Gas Intelligence archives from February 2007

Iranian give and take.
February 7, 2007... LNG projects could benefit from new upstream licensing terms presented by Iran to industry investors at a heavily attended conference it organized for the purpose in Vienna last week. These include provisions for longer buyback contract...

Peru targets Mexico, Chile for LNG sales.
February 7, 2007... In the wake of last week's announcement that Peru LNG had taken a giant step forward by signing a firm construction contract for liquefaction and related facilities with Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB & I), Spain's Repsol YPF concedes it still has...

Gas Opec gains attention, not traction.
February 7, 2007... Iran's bold plan for forming a "gas Opec" with Russia and other key exporters, broached last week by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has gained some momentum since, but it still appears to lack firm traction among a number...

Terminals offshore Boston race ahead.
February 7, 2007... After several years in limbo as projects stalled in the face of fierce local opposition, the Northeast US LNG industry has gotten a shot in the arm since December, with dramatic progress seen on two offshore terminals in Massachusetts (WGI...

India seeks spot LNG for Dabhol restart.
February 7, 2007... The beleaguered Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra, once owned by Enron, looks set to generate electricity from regasified LNG beginning in late June, senior Indian officials tell WGI. State importing consortium Petronet LNG hopes to import 1.5...

Ukraine-Russia swap meets Orange crush.
February 7, 2007... After roughly six months of skillfully rebuilding ties with Moscow and consolidating power at home, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich hit a snag this week over the pro-Russian politician's alleged plans to cede partial control of the...

RWE plans new kind of German pipeline.
February 7, 2007... The new [euro]1 billion ($1.3 billion) cross-Germany pipeline unveiled by German utility RWE this week to transport at least 5 billion cubic meters per year (484 million cubic feet per day) of gas from Seyda near the Czech border to Eynatten in...

Market insight: cold US comfort.(INSIGHT)
February 7, 2007... With extraordinarily cold weather enveloping the US Midwest and Northeast, the North American gas market is shaking off the effects of a warm early winter. The recent bitter cold spell has nearly eliminated the year-on-year storage surplus. And...

Wind farms keep getting bigger--and perhaps better.(CURRENT)
February 7, 2007... With wind power now the top renewable energy source virtually worldwide, each week seems to bring an announcement of plans to build the biggest wind farm ever. UK-based Warwick Energy briefly held the title for the largest announced project...

Lower price brings little fuel switching onto gas in US.(HORIZON)
February 7, 2007... After years of being expensive relative to oil, North American gas suddenly looked comparatively cheap in 2006. As a result, the year saw virtually none of the periodic switching from gas onto oil for power generation in the US that has marked...

India jumps price hurdle.
February 14, 2007... India has not only accepted an Iranian pricing formula for pipeline gas that would yield a price at the Iran-Pakistan border of around $4.60 per million Btu at recent crude oil prices, it looks set to sign up for Australia LNG from the Gorgon...

Giant NLNG Train 7 already sold out.
February 14, 2007... Nigeria LNG has signed five supply contracts from its proposed Train 7, currently the world's largest single-train LNG project. North America is the target market. Nameplate capacity at Train 7 is 8.4 million tons (11.6 billion cubic meters)...

Oman foresees no spot sales soon.
February 14, 2007... Oman's LNG output looks set to remain capped at around 9.5 million tons per year until 2009 at least. That's some 3 million tons/yr (400 million cubic feet per day) below debottlenecked capacity, making spot cargoes unlikely for at least the...

Double first for Excelerate's UK debut.
February 14, 2007... The first cargo into the UK's second LNG import terminal, at Teesside in northeast England, docked Monday, Feb. 12--barely a year after US-based Excelerate Energy first requested permitting for its Teesside GasPort from local authorities (WGI...

Secrets of Kinder Morgan's US success.
February 14, 2007... When former Enron executives Richard Kinder and Bill Morgan invested $40 million to buy the general partnership interest in a collection of Enron's discarded assets in 1997, the mix consisted mainly of natural gas liquids pipelines and coal...

Gazprom Uzbek deal.
February 14, 2007... In yet another move to strengthen its position in Central Asia, Russian state Gazprom has agreed to buy a controlling, 51% stake in Uzbek oil and gas assets held by Swiss-registered Zeromax, which holds a strong position in Uzbekistan's energy,...

BG Brindisi arrests.
February 14, 2007... Italian police Monday arrested five people, including three BG executives past and present, in connection with a long-running inquiry into alleged corruption involving the company's Brindisi LNG project in southeast Italy. The arrests came four...

Exxon's Tillerson takes on Statoil.
February 14, 2007... Reports out of Indonesia that state Pertamina is in talks with Statoil about bringing the Norwegian company in as a partner to replace Exxon Mobil in developing the giant Natuna D-Alpha offshore gas field got a rise out of Exxon Chairman and...

Market insight: Korean spot slowdown.(INSIGHT)
February 14, 2007... Global LNG spot markets may be entering a "sea of calm" after this winter's early spot feeding frenzy. State Korea Gas (Kogas) plans no further spot purchases this winter, a company trader tells WGI. Kogas did buy a couple of spot cargoes in...

Price collapse threatens credibility of euro carbon trading.(CURRENT)
February 14, 2007... Prices for carbon dioxide (CO2) emission permits in Europe's emission trading system (ETS) have taken a nosedive since the start of the year. If the crash continues, particularly for permits in the 2008-12 period when emission reductions...

LNG growth set to slow in 2007, leaving markets tight.(HORIZON)
February 14, 2007... While 2007 is expected to chart reasonably robust growth in LNG production, the year will be a transitional one as markets prepare for the operation of mega-trains later this decade. Frank Harris of Wood Mackenzie forecasts an 8% rise in LNG...

Spain's warning to Algeria.
February 21, 2007... Spain's ruling socialist party is aiming to introduce a gas clause into the country's new hydrocarbons law that would prevent or more likely cap the participation of non-EU energy suppliers such as Algeria and Russia in the Spanish gas...

Sharp GTL jolt from QP, Exxon.
February 21, 2007... Qatar again demonstrated its newfound preference for domestic markets over exports with Tuesday's surprise announcement that Exxon Mobil and state Qatar Petroleum (QP) have shelved the planned 154,000 barrel per day Palm natural gas-to-liquids...

Trinidad Train X alive again--Barely.
February 21, 2007... Plans for a fifth LNG train in Trinidad and Tobago--long on the back burner due to supply concerns--have gained traction in recent weeks, with government officials outlining steps to secure the necessary gas. However, questions linger as to...

Korea's dereg delay affects terminals.
February 21, 2007... The absence of clarity on South Korea's policy for deregulating the wholesale gas sector is holding up plans for new terminals, although companies are in the meantime stepping up investment in the power and city-gas distribution sectors in...

Brazil gives Bolivia slightly higher prices.
February 21, 2007... After much sparring, Bolivian President Evo Morales has finally gotten Brazil to pay more for the gas it imports from his country--although the increase is nothing like as much as he wanted. In fact, more than additional dollars, the main...

Russia's tentative Mideast initiative.
February 21, 2007... Russia's push to coordinate future gas supplies with other producing nations in order to minimize competition in both European markets and energy-hungry Asia reached new heights when Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the course of a...

Algerian moves into Italy, France.
February 21, 2007... Algeria has been proceeding apace with multifaceted long-term gas marketing plans in Europe--with Italy and France so far demonstrating little of the concern about state Sonatrach's strategy that threatens to provoke Spanish legislation (p1)....

Market insight: European contrasts.(INSIGHT)(Industry overview)
February 21, 2007... As UK and nearby continental gas prices wallow around 17 pence per therm ($3.30 per million Btu), it's worth recalling that in previous winters low prompt prices weren't so rare in a mild February. Rather, it's the tight supply of the two...

US climate change policy coming--but probably not soon.(CURRENT)
February 21, 2007... While momentum clearly is building in the US for mandatory controls on carbon emissions accompanied by a system of carbon trading, it's unlikely that such a system will be in place in time to rescue the second, 2008-12 phase of the European...

Modeling leaves LNG accident dangers largely a mystery.(HORIZON)
February 21, 2007... LNG boasts an extraordinary safety record: Although a fire in an empty Staten Island LNG storage tank killed 37 workers in 1973, there have been no public injuries from LNG itself in the US since the East Ohio Gas peak-shaving plant disaster in...

New Belgian terminal planned.
February 28, 2007... Belgian shipowner Exmar is planning to develop at least one LNG terminal in Belgium to open less than two years from now--in late 2008--and will apply to use one or both of two sites at Antwerp and Zeebrugge, Exmar Chief Operating Officer Peter...

Gas crunch hits home in Mideast Gulf.
February 28, 2007... A number of petrochemical manufacturers and even power generators in the Mideast Gulf are having to consider alternative feedstocks and fuel as the region comes to grips with a looming crunch on cheap gas supply, despite its vast undeveloped...

Italian demand, LNG projects both slow.
February 28, 2007... Growth in Italian gas consumption slowed last year, with higher prices depressing industrial demand as they have elsewhere. Nonetheless, an existing LNG terminal at Panigaglia is to be doubled in size by 2010, even as new LNG facilities make...

Pakistan, India still differ on transit fees.
February 28, 2007... India and Pakistan have failed to resolve their differences on key transportation issues surrounding the gas pipeline proposed to run from Iran via Pakistan to India. Petroleum secretaries of the neighboring countries met in Islamabad last week...

Diverse Canadian LNG schemes progress.
February 28, 2007... The proposed Keltic petrochemical complex and the accompanying Maple LNG terminal in Nova Scotia, Canada, received important backing last week with the release of a report by Nova Scotia's Environmental Assessment Board (EAB). Although the...

Egypt, Israel pipe talk.
February 28, 2007... The Israeli-Egyptian East Mediterranean Group (EMG) has crossed the halfway point in filling its planned 7 billion cubic meter per year (677 million cubic foot per day) pipeline to supply Egyptian gas to Israel, WGI is told. Plans are to lay...

Shell's Turkish buy.
February 28, 2007... Turkish state pipeline operator and importer Botas is this week to sign the first handover contract for one 250,000 cubic meter per year lot out of its contract to import gas from Russia, state Anadolu news agency said Monday. The buyer is...

Exxon looks for new GTL approach.
February 28, 2007... Last week's decision by Exxon Mobil and state Qatar Petroleum (QP) to halt work on the proposed Palm natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in the Mideast Gulf state doesn't mean that Exxon is dropping research and development work on the...

Market insight: US drawing power.(INSIGHT)
February 28, 2007... The big question hanging over global LNG markets is when and to what extent the starkly higher netbacks now available in the US will start to draw cargoes away from Northwest Europe and elsewhere. So far, higher returns on sales into the US...

E.On, Endesa deal could spur further mergers in Spain.(CURRENT)
February 28, 2007... Germany's largest combined gas and power player E.On seems likely to end up with Endesa--despite prognostications to the contrary this week from the Spanish energy minister--resolving a long-running struggle for control of Spain's biggest...

Regional LNG terminal developers seek elusive diversity.(HORIZON)
February 28, 2007... While the reinvigoration of the global LNG industry half a decade ago spawned a plethora of regional terminal developers in the US, Europe and elsewhere, in the years since many have come to the view that it's difficult--if not impossible--to...