World Gas Intelligence articles from February 2008

World Gas Intelligence archives from February 2008

Algeria's spot-oriented future.
February 6, 2008... Algeria's LNG future is shaping up to be one centered on short-term contracts and spot sales, rather than the long-term contracts that have traditionally underpinned LNG investment, Energy Minister Chakib Khelil tells WGI. "In our case,...

Floating LNG looks cheap, Petronas finds.
February 6, 2008... Malaysian state Petronas is getting serious about deploying the world's first floating LNG production plant on a deepwater gas development off the state of Sabah, WGI learns from sources close to the company. It has formed links with a group of...

Kuwait seeks summer-only LNG.
February 6, 2008... Kuwait has struggled for years to firm up gas import plans and, more recently, gone out drilling in search of gas at home. While the drilling had started to yield results, neither substantial new gas flows nor completion of a refinery that...

Mexico's high-profile Altamira terminal.
February 6, 2008... In the months since the US went into LNG hibernation, Mexico has emerged as the driving North American force in spot LNG markets, absorbing anywhere from two to six spot cargoes per month, while capacity holders Royal Dutch Shell and Total wait...

India sets priorities for KG basin gas.
February 6, 2008... Having late last year capped the price for gas from Reliance's Krishna-Godavari field at $4.20 per million Btu based on crude oil at $60 per barrel, New Delhi is now mandating the order in which different sectors will get such gas--providing a...

Gazprom talking points.
February 6, 2008... Exxon Mobil isn't going to give up hopes of exporting gas from the Sakhalin-1 project on Russia's Pacific Shelf without a fight. The US supermajor is undertaking an independent study to see how much gas Gazprom actually needs to gasify Russia's...

Qatar cultivates new Asian markets.
February 6, 2008... Qatar is branching out into new Asian markets: Over the last week, it has launched supply talks with Singapore and initialed a deal with Thailand's state PTT. Two years ago Qatar posted a "sold out" sign on its door, ruling out any...

Market insight: clinging to $8.(INSIGHT)
February 6, 2008... The US gas futures contract for February delivery at Henry Hub clung to the $8 per million Btu mark until it expired last week, insuring that the bidweek prices on which most of the country's baseload supply is priced will remain elevated...

EDF Seeks gas-fired power, maybe neighboring utilities.(CURRENT)
February 6, 2008... It appears that EDF has more than gas trading in mind as it develops channels for importing LNG into France and Belgium (WGI Dec.19,p3). The French power incumbent is aiming to bring on line 4,000 megawatts of predominantly gas-fired generating...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
February 6, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Jan. 29-Feb. 4. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Feb. 4 for day-ahead delivery Feb. 5. European power prices are from exchanges on...

Opponents of EU unbundling proposal go on the offensive.(HORIZON)
February 6, 2008... Any doubts about the strength of opposition to the European Commission's September proposal to hive off ownership of transmission networks from energy trading concerns disappeared last week when eight of the EU's 27 member states warned that...

BG's global LNG reach.
February 13, 2008... "LNG delivered excellent results beyond our own demanding targets," BG Group Chief Executive Frank Chapman said last week--before setting out a strategy to boost the company's portfolio and potentially move into the Asia-Pacific supply market...

Uneven Suez, Conoco regas swap.
February 13, 2008... Suez and ConocoPhillips have concluded what amounts to a lopsided swap in LNG import capacities on either side of the Atlantic. The back-to-back deals--like last month's Osaka Gas purchase of equity in the 1.5 billion cubic foot per day (11.5...

Confidence frays in Saudi gas prospects.
February 13, 2008... When France's Total officially pulled the plug on its gas exploration adventure in Saudi Arabia last week, it was the first overt sign of disaffection with the ongoing gas program undertaken by four international joint ventures in the remote...

No Baltic LNG, fewer Canadian terminals.
February 13, 2008... Tried and true European markets won out over the supply-short Atlantic Basin LNG trade with Gazprom's decision last week to drop the planned Baltic LNG project to feed 5 million tons per year of LNG (7 billion cubic meters per year of gas) to...

India's Petronet seeks liquefaction role.
February 13, 2008... Petronet LNG is changing course in its efforts to line up more LNG to help meet India's growing energy demand. Instead of just buying the fuel, Petronet is now ready to invest in building liquefaction trains in gas-rich countries, particularly...

Chile gains on LNG imports--Peru aside.
February 13, 2008... France's Suez said this week that both LNG supply and a final environmental permit have been secured for the GNL Mejillones (GNLM) import terminal in northern Chile, while BG said its complementary GNL Quintero project midway down the coast is...

Russia, Ukraine settle.
February 13, 2008... By giving as well as taking a bit, Gazprom has avoided another round of criticism from the West about the Russian state behemoth's reliability as a primary energy supplier (WGI Jan.23,p3). Russia and Ukraine ended a game of brinkmanship in...

Snohvit ships LNG--for now at least.
February 13, 2008... Norway's Snohvit LNG project exported its third cargo Saturday night and its first toward the US. But after an outage lasting two months, decisions are needed soon on whether to buy a new heat exchanger or to improvise a solution. The...

Market insight: Asian spot buying eases.
February 13, 2008... Red-hot Japanese and South Korean spot LNG prices have cooled somewhat as winter starts to fade. North Asian traders say cargoes for March delivery are now fetching $15-$17 per million Btu, down from $18-$20/MMBtu in February. Japanese and...

Last year another record-breaker for utility takeovers.(CURRENT)
February 13, 2008... Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the electricity and gas utilities sector broke records yet again in 2007, with the industry showing a 25% jump in the total value of deals done, to $372.5 billion. At least the rate of increase is...

Gas and power prices for major US and European hubs.(CURRENT)
February 13, 2008... US prices are the weighted average of assessments by Natural Gas Week for five trading days, spanning Feb. 5-11. European gas prices are WGI assessments on Feb. 11 for day-ahead delivery Feb. 12. European power prices are from exchanges on Feb....

Gazprom at 15: successful at home, troubled abroad.(HORIZON)
February 13, 2008... As it turns 15 this week, Russia's very state-controlled Gazprom has ambitious efforts afoot to expand both at home and abroad--although it is finding progress easier inside the country than in international markets. The company is nearing its...

Yemen LNG home stretch.
February 20, 2008... The French Total-led Yemen LNG project has cleared one of its most imposing hurdles by ironing out an amended upstream contract for 1.1 billion cubic feet per day of gas feedstock, putting the 6.7 million ton per year project on schedule to...

Pertamina seeks new Natuna partners.
February 20, 2008... Indonesian state Pertamina was ready and willing to take over the stalled Natuna D-Alpha Block even before Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro announced Tuesday that talks with previous operator Exxon Mobil on a new production split had failed....

Good Australian CBM LNG economics.
February 20, 2008... The speed at which coal-seam gas, also known as coalbed methane (CBM), has gone from a niche play to the mainstream in Australia is breathtaking. Proved and probable reserves of CBM have gone from essentially none in 2002 to over 6 trillion...

Sonatrach's Dominican Republic deal.
February 20, 2008... A deal announced in late January under which Sonatrach would build a 150 megawatt hybrid electricity generation plant--using both solar power and gas--and an LNG regasification terminal in the Dominican Republic is intriguing not only because...

Colombia, Venezuela spar, gas still flows.
February 20, 2008... A diplomatic spat between presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia will apparently not affect gas flows through a recently opened pipeline between the two countries. However, political frictions could further complicate...

GN sells LNG to EDF.
February 20, 2008... Agreement last week by Spain's Gas Natural (GN) to sell 1 billion cubic meters (730,000 tons) per year of LNG to EDF, starting April 2009 and covering up to a total of 4 Bcm, should give arbitrage cover to both parties--by providing GN with...

RWE, Excelerate align.
February 20, 2008... RWE's acquisition of a 50% stake in offshore LNG delivery pioneer Excelerate Energy for $500 million creates an interesting alignment of upstream gas production, utility assets and marketing savvy with potentially global downstream LNG...

Wintershall exits Galsi.(INSIGHT)
February 20, 2008... BASF-owned Wintershall has left the Galsi consortium that is planning to build a 900 kilometer gas pipeline from Algeria to northwest Italy via the Italian island of Sardinia--suggesting it may no longer be interested in entering the Italian...

Market insight: European demand dip.(Industry overview)
February 20, 2008... European end-user gas and power prices continued their seemingly inexorable rise over the last three months, with oil-indexed gas prices up 7%-15% in most cases in that quarter alone, according to WGI's End-user Price Supplement, compiled by...

German, US coal-fired Power Booms May be fizzling out.(CURRENT)
February 20, 2008... The boom in new coal-fired power generation that looked to be taking shape over recent years as gas prices soared relative to those for coal may be about to implode under the weight of global warming concerns, in Europe and the US at least. Or...

Socar to Europe: end Turkish deadlock, get Shah Deniz gas.
February 20, 2008... Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field, where operator BP last year raised the proven reserves estimate to a hefty 1 trillion cubic meters (35 trillion cubic feet), holds the key to prospects for the ambitious Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to...

WGI supplement: European End-User Prices (eurocents/kWh).
February 20, 2008... WGI SUPPLEMENT: European End-User Prices (eurocents/kWh) Gas Prices: 100,000 cm/yr 1 Million cm/yr Typical High Low Typical High Low Belgium Jan. '08 ...

Nigeria's LNG indecision.
February 27, 2008... Those searching for signs of progress on gas projects and policy could be forgiven for feeling disappointment at the annual Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja last week. The fate of two big LNG projects has yet to be decided, while...

India's Petronet sees larger Gorgon buy.
February 27, 2008... India's Petronet LNG hopes to clinch a final deal by the end of June with Exxon Mobil to buy 3.75 million tons per year of LNG from the Gorgon project in Australia. That's up from the 2.5 million tons/yr for 25 years contained in a draft...

Cheniere for sale, before it celebrates.
February 27, 2008... This should have been a celebratory spring for Cheniere Energy. Two of the four or more giant merchant LNG receiving terminals it conceived of building along the US Gulf Coast in 2001 are set for commissioning by midyear: Freeport LNG, now only...

French LNG terminal report coming soon.
February 27, 2008... The conclusions of a "working group" assembled by France's Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) to review the positioning and regulation of LNG terminals in France are expected within a month. This committee, chaired by Colette Lewiner, senior...

Yemen sets gas price with eye to exploring.
February 27, 2008... With eight new gas production sharing agreements (PSA) set to come before Yemen's parliament for approval over the next few weeks, the Ministry of Petroleum is hoping to issue a model document shortly for paying international companies to...

Gazprom gains new South stream allies.
February 27, 2008... Russia's Gazprom this week pulled some important new allies into its increasingly viable-appearing bid to build the South Stream gas pipeline under the Black Sea to central and perhaps southern Europe: Serbia and, unexpectedly, Hungary agreed...

Iraq could feed Arab Gas Pipe to Syria.
February 27, 2008... Ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey last weekend again discussed possible use of Iraqi gas to help fill the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP), which already supplies 2.3 billion cubic meters per year (220 million cubic feet per day)...

Market insight: spot shift to US.(INSIGHT)
February 27, 2008... Asia remains the destination of choice for the moment in global LNG spot markets. But with European--including even Spanish--demand stuttering, the stars are aligning for a resurgence in shipments to the US, where a gas price spike has taken...

German utilities fear Gas, German public fears Coal.(CURRENT)
February 27, 2008... Germany is staring into the jaws of a major generating capacity gap. Most of its nuclear plants are due for retirement by 2022, and political and environmental opposition to new coal-fired power plants is increasing--an unnerving prospect for a...

Australia pushes developers to reshuffle LNG project pack.(HORIZON)
February 27, 2008... Australia--at both governmental and corporate levels--is reassessing which LNG projects should be developed in the face of tightening environmental restrictions and spiraling costs. Federal and state governments are increasingly keen on...