World Gas Intelligence articles from July 2005

World Gas Intelligence archives from July 2005

Iran turning LNG unfriendly?
July 6, 2005... The surprise election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran could spell major changes for Iran's gas policy, likely including further delays in or even an end to LNG export efforts. Iranian petroleum industry officials expect Oil...

Prices for Guangdong send-out not yet set.
July 6, 2005... China's first LNG terminal project, in Guangdong province, is on track to import initial LNG from Australia's North West Shelf project in mid-2006, but the 3.7 million ton per year facility has yet to firm up prices for gas with end-users,...

Peru could anchor regional gas ring.
July 6, 2005... The buzz in Latin America these days is that Peru could replace Bolivia as the future hub of a long dreamed of regional gas ring. The truth is Peru would need to do a lot of homework to make this dream come true--and if massive additional...

Legal battle over US terminals heats up.
July 6, 2005... The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) made history last week with two separate decisions. It rejected for the first time an application to build an LNG terminal, and by approving another project over objections from state and local...

Dutch Gasunie splits--but to what avail?
July 6, 2005... Western Europe's largest midstream gas company split on Jul. 1 into separate transmission and gas marketing businesses--all according to plans announced by shareholders eight months earlier and after a "dummy-run" of over two years (WGI...

PNG gas coming.
July 6, 2005... It's rumored to have taken some price discounting to get the job done. But a long delayed Exxon Mobil-led project to export gas from Papua New Guinea to Australia gained what should be critical mass when Australian Gas Light, a retailer of gas...

Nabucco advances.
July 6, 2005... Earlier talk of progress in Russian Gazprom's effort to derail the Nabucco project--to build a major pipeline for Caspian and Iranian gas that would link Turkey via three states to Austria by 2011--now look premature. The five partners last...

Egypt, Israel deal.
July 6, 2005... Long-standing efforts by Israel to import Egyptian gas got a boost last week when Israeli and Egyptian government officials signed a memorandum of understanding providing the political backing for state Israel Electric Corp.'s (IEC) purchase of...

Market insight: volatility rules in US.(Insight)
July 6, 2005... Although the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) July gas future contract rolled off the board under the $7 per million Btu mark, down 16 cents at $6.976/MMBtu, the bid-week prices that will apply over the month under many contracts were...

Legal questions plague Indonesian attack on oil-fired power.(CURRENT)
July 6, 2005... Indonesia desperately needs new electricity generating capacity as the government seeks to reduce its dependency on oil-fired plants in the face of its slide into net oil-importing status at a time of soaring prices. And the government...

Emissions trading tested as Europe's carbon price soars.(Horizon)
July 6, 2005... Prices in Europe's new carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) emissions market continue to smash records, with emission rights touching new record levels earlier this week above C29 ($34.50) versus a mid-January low of 6.35 [euro] per ton (WGI May25,p1)....

India's tough negotiations.
July 13, 2005... The final sale and purchase agreement Indian state companies signed last month with Iran for 5 million tons per year of LNG--equivalent to 19 million cubic meters (667 million cubic feet) per day of gas--gives resale rights to the buyers with...

US LNG imports stagnate this spring.
July 13, 2005... Despite an increase in US LNG receiving capacity and record high gas prices, US imports of LNG were flat in the second quarter with year-ago levels, after registering steady increases for two years running, including a near 30% jump in 2004....

Winter UK prices soar towards $20.
July 13, 2005... Prices for gas to be delivered next winter at Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP) continue to score new record highs, underlining the strong effect this gas market could have on global LNG prices in the months ahead, following this month's...

EU probes potential Nabucco spoiler.
July 13, 2005... Concern about the level of Russian control over European gas imports looks to have been a key factor in the European Commission's decision to open a detailed investigation into E.On's planned acquisition of the gas wholesale and storage...

Shell, Gazprom deal helps all--but Rosneft.
July 13, 2005... A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last week between Gazprom and Royal Dutch/Shell, giving the Russian gas behemoth a blocking stake in the Sakhalin-2 project, provides enticing prospects for all parties involved. Gazprom would get its...

French energy market opening slowly.
July 13, 2005... Opening of share capital in big French energy companies is proceeding faster, it seems, than the opening of France's energy markets. Around 22% of Gaz de France (GdF) equity was sold last week in what Finance Minister Thierry Breton termed...

Mackenzie Pipeline fix.
July 13, 2005... The Canadian federal government and a key First Nations group have reached agreement on several key issues that threatened to derail the planned Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project, although other bones of contention remain (WGI Jun.30'04,p2)....

Algeria inches ahead.
July 13, 2005... Ending a period of apparent inaction, Algerian state Sonatrach has selected a consortium of Canada's SNC-Lavalin and US-based Black and Veatch as project management consultants for the new LNG train at Skikda planned to replace the three trains...

Excelerate tries freelance shipping.
July 13, 2005... Excelerate Energy has fixed one of its regasification vessels for spot delivery of a Nigerian cargo awarded last week to French Total, market sources tell WGI. The cargo is to be lifted Jul. 28. It's unclear which of Excelerate's two tankers...

Market insight: Asian shipping shifts.(Insight)
July 13, 2005... To the extent that lower shipping cost were the motivating factor behind the long-running drive by Asian buyers for f.o.b. rather than ex-ship or other delivered terms, that drive has been a resounding success. Both spot and long-term rates...

Saudi Arabia, other Mideast Gulf states power up, some privately.(Current)
July 13, 2005... Commercial and gas-fired power both continue to make slow advances in the Mideast Gulf. Saudi Arabia last month finally started commercial operations at its first independent power project, a 250 megawatt cogeneration plant built by Jubail...

Nuclear advances across Globe, though problems remain.(Horizon)
July 13, 2005... Nuclear power's image is being slowly rehabilitated as it comes to be viewed as a nearly carbon-free source of energy that has a place in the campaign to tackle climate change, although barriers remain to be overcome before it is lined up...

Gazprom, Ukraine strains.
July 20, 2005... Although lingering talks have led to settlement of a dispute between state Naftogas Ukrainy and Russian state-controlled Gazprom over 7.8 billion cubic meters (275 billion cubic feet) of gas accumulated in underground storage in Ukraine, the...

Centrica broadens its future LNG base.
July 20, 2005... Centrica, the UK's largest gas supplier to end-users, has joined the Canvey LNG terminal project near London--giving the company a foothold at three of the UK's four leading import terminal projects even though it still has no equity LNG. ...

New twist to US LNG quality debate.
July 20, 2005... The debate in the US over the impact of imported LNG on pipeline gas quality has been invigorated by a dispute between Washington Gas and Light (WGL), the utility serving the nation's capital, and Dominion, operator of the nearby Cove Point,...

Myanmar aims to add LNG to pipe exports.
July 20, 2005... Looking to move beyond its successful Yadana and Yetagun gas projects, Myanmar wants to establish itself as a regional gas supplier through exports not only of pipeline gas to Thailand and India, but also of LNG. These diverse commercial...

Maine LNG projects fall behind Canadians.
July 20, 2005... Exports of gas to the northern New England from Canadian LNG terminals are starting to look like a strong possibility. As a result, slowly stirring competitors south of the border could find that they came to the party too late. Last week,...

German regulator.
July 20, 2005... Germany is positioned to see more liberalized gas and power markets after the formal entry into force on Jul. 13 of the country's second Energy Markets Law, fulfilling the requirement to transpose the 2003 European Union gas and power...

Peru, Mexico LNG dance.
July 20, 2005... With spain's Repsol YPF close to inking a deal for a 20% stake in Hunt Oil-operated Peru LNG, this marketer of Camisea gas is gearing up to sell its LNG to Mexico. But it's still an open question which Mexican terminal will get the LNG. ...

Market insight: toppy UK spot.(Insight)
July 20, 2005... The market had very little depth, traders say in explanation of last week's record peak then sudden collapse in winter 2005-06 UK spot prices. Evidence of spot price convergence between the UK and continental Europe was even thinner. What is...

Power prices volatile in increasingly interconnected Europe.(Current)
July 20, 2005... Wholesale electricity prices have been on something of a roller-coaster ride in Europe lately, scaling new record highs across the region in recent weeks in line with soaring temperatures, as well as soaring gas and carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2])...

US gas price not as high as it looks--relatively speaking.(Horizon)
July 20, 2005... Few in the US would accept the notion that the country's current benchmark gas price of $7-$8 per million Btu is low. Indeed, the country is bracing for a second wave of demand destruction that would continue the cycle of downsizing, mergers...

How short Indonesian LNG?
July 27, 2005... Confusion continues to surround both the extent and source of a shortfall in LNG supply that Indonesian officials have been trumpeting for months. A Western industry source close to Indonesia's 25 million ton per year LNG export industry...

Egypt LNG now operating full tilt.
July 27, 2005... The BG- and Petronas-led Egyptian LNG (ELNG) project at Idku appears to be ramping up to full capacity. Last Friday, Gaz de France (GdF) announced it had received its first ELNG cargo, delivered on the Edouard LD to the Montoir terminal in...

Strategic trading moves by Petronas.
July 27, 2005... Malaysian state Petronas may be looking to establish a firmer foothold in UK gas markets with the $40 million purchase of a 19.1% stake in Star Energy, a modest onshore UK oil producer with 93 billion cubic feet (2.6 billion cubic meters) of...

UK LNG terminals beat legal challenge.
July 27, 2005... Backers of two big LNG receiving terminals planned at Milford Haven, in the UK, look to have fought off a legal challenge to their permits, although a further appeal is still possible and some potentially troublesome questions were raised in...

Alaska, Mackenzie Delta pipes delayed.
July 27, 2005... This was supposed to be the year in which industry sponsors, governments and other stakeholders signed the agreements leading to construction of the long-awaited gas pipelines from North America's Arctic frontier region to markets in Canada and...

Protesters Halt Shell's Irish gas project.
July 27, 2005... Royal Dutch Shell has temporarily suspended work on the onshore pipeline section of its Corrib gas field development while the Irish government initiates an independent safety review. This comes in the wake of growing protests about the safety...

India-Iran roadblock.
July 27, 2005... Politics look to be undermining prospects for Indian imports of pipeline gas from Iran just a month after a tour by Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to Pakistan and Iran appeared to significantly advance plans for an Iran-Pakistan-India line...

LNG a winner in new US energy law.
July 27, 2005... US President George W. Bush is set to embellish his legislative scorecard with passage of a comprehensive energy bill by Congress later this week. Senate and House of Representatives negotiators Tuesday finished work on compromise legislation...

Market insight: expensive LNG.(Insight)
July 27, 2005... Short-term LNG markets continue to be dominated by strong demand from Europe, in an environment of rising prices in underlying gas markets worldwide. At what should be the height of the US LNG import season, the BG-controlled Lake Charles...

Temperatures, power, gas demand all up in North America.(Current)
July 27, 2005... Had they wanted to, many North Americans could have scrambled eggs on the concrete last week. Scorching temperatures set new weather records, pulling electricity demand--and prices--to new peaks in their wake and threatening the delicate...

New US boss at Shell talks gas, corporate image issues.(Horizon)
July 27, 2005... In a company where traders and technical professionals have generally held the top executive slots, John Hofmeister is an anomaly. The newly named US country chairman and president of Shell Oil is neither an engineer nor a geoscientist. Nor did...